Threads of Time
by The Key of Hope
Summary: Destiny Islands, 1000 years in the future. The two of them always knew that they were peculiar, being the only two who didn't have a Keyblade. Once SHE arrived though, the cogs of fate began to turn, and nothing would ever be the same again.
1. Chapter 1

A/N it's amazing how quickly plot bunnies can hit you...and also WHERE they can hit...and when and...well a lot of things are weird about the rare and elusive plot bunny. This is a rather...unique idea that I'm not sure HOW I'll do this, but if I can pull it off just right, it could become something unique.

DISCLAIMER I own nothing but my own original characters. Everything else is property of Disney and Square Enix

A teen stood in the middle of a large crowd. The teen was a boy around sixteen years old and had short brown hair and bright green eyes. He wore clothes that were nearly identical to everybody else's: a simple white shirt, a pair of brown slacks, and a blue tie. He sighed loudly and ran his fingers through his hair as he looked at the large building in front of him where everyone seemed to be going. "Joy, another boring year of school. What sort of dull, useless crap will they teach us this year?" he asked himself. He straightened his tie and sighed before shifting his backpack slightly. He walked past several groups of students, all of them looking at him oddly. When he entered the building he found someone standing with his back to some lockers. The other boy was around his own age and wore the same uniform. The difference between the two boys was that the second one had somewhat long, black hair and blue eyes that reflected intelligence.

"Welcome to another year of hell," the second boy said in a somewhat monotone voice.

The first boy groaned. "I don't think hell would be as boring as this place."

The second boy smirked slightly. "No, I would imagine that hell would have more fire, and when you're dealing with fire, you can never get bored."

The first boy smacked his forehead with his hand. "I can never figure you out. One second you can be one of the smartest people I know and the next second you're a pyromaniac and the second after that you can be something completely different."

"Liking fire doesn't make me a pyromaniac, and if it did that would make you more of a pyromaniac than me."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I've seen you at some of the movies we've gone to where there were explosions. A smile that big isn't natural."

"Oh shut up already, we're going to be late for class," the first boy said as he turned around. A second later the second boy was at his side. The two boys continued down the hallway.

Suddenly, a large boy stepped in front of the two of them. "Well, well, if it isn't the keyless. How are you two doing today?"

"Fine, how about you Caleb?" the first boy asked as though nothing was wrong.

"Don't you dare talk to me," Caleb growled.

"I thought I only couldn't initiate a conversation with you; responding to you should be just fine."

Caleb balled his fists in rage. "Useless pieces of trash shouldn't talk, period."

"You know, I would think that after ten years you guys would have thought of more insults than 'keyless' and 'useless pieces of trash' and the like. I mean, what, do you not have enough brain cells up there? I mean you're in, what...basic math, right? Must get lonely in there..."

Caleb screamed and charged at the teen. He raised his fist and was about to bring it down when the teen moved to the side smoothly. Caleb overshot and slammed his fist into a locker. He held his now red fist and glared at the teen. "After school, the park...you hear me?"

The teen started to walk away and waved his hand. "Yeah, I heard you."

The two teens walked into an almost full room, found two empty seats, and sat down. Soon an older man walked into the room. He wore a red button-up shirt and a pair of black dress pants. His silver hair told the class that he was old, and his eyes reflected many years of experience. He stood behind the podium at the front of the class and coughed slightly. The class all looked to the front of the class, and when they saw that the teacher had come in, they all sat down and quieted down. "I'll now call roll," the man said suddenly. He started to read off names, taking almost no time between each name. "Asher Lane."

The boy with short brown hair raised his hand. "Here."

The man quickly started to read off names again. "Landon Reese."

The second boy raised his hand this time. "Here."

The teacher continued to read off names until he reached the end. He looked up at the class, pulled a pair of glasses out, and put them on. He turned around and wrote his name on the board. When he was done he turned back around. "I am Professor Hodges, and I'll be your teacher for this year. As you all know..." he started to say. Suddenly, the doors near the front of the room opened up. Another man walked in with a young teenage girl standing next to him. She had long blond hair with two bangs in front and brown eyes.

"Sorry to interrupt your class, but this young lady went to the wrong classroom. She's a new student," the man explained.

"Ah, I see. If I may ask, what is your name?" Professor Hodges asked.

"My name is Ailey Cole," the teenage girl said smiling slightly.

Professor Hodges quickly made a note on the piece of paper. "All right, find a seat because we're about to start." Ailey nodded her head and looked around the room. She saw an empty seat right behind Asher and walked over there and set her backpack down. She gave Asher a slight smile, which he returned before turning back around. "As I was saying, my name is Professor Hodges. This year our studies will focus primarily on history, focusing on some of the more important time periods such as the Awakening time period as well as the period known simply as Sora's Journey. This year will also have a large focus on combat training, focusing on Keyblade control and magic control. Are there any questions before we begin?" When he saw nobody raise their hand he nodded his head. "Very well then, let's start by opening our textbooks to page ten..."

-|SEVERAL HOURS LATER|-

"Why the hell do they have to give us the most uninteresting, monotone teacher teaching us the most repetitive subject?" Asher asked as he placed his hands behind his head.

"The subject may be boring, but it's important to know," Landon explained.

"Oh come on, who really cares about what some teen did a thousand years ago? I mean, heck, almost anybody here could do that nowadays since Keyblades aren't exactly rare anymore."

"But it's still important. If Sora hadn't won those battles we wouldn't be standing here talking to each other."

Asher sighed. "You are such a nerd, you know that? You need to get your head out of the books and into the sun some more."

"And I could say that you could spend some more time with your head in the books and less time running around the islands screaming your head off."

"Hey, I'm happy with a B average, sorry I don't have a...what was it last year, 3.7 for you?"

"Yeah, 3.7...Stupid math teacher," Landon growled.

"Oh yeah, blame the teacher and refuse to accept that you actually bombed a test for once in your life."

Landon glared at his friend, who just continued to walk forward. A set of light footsteps caught Landon's attention and he turned around. He saw the girl that was late to class, Ailey, running towards them. "Hey Asher, looks like we've got some company heading our way."

Asher turned around and saw Ailey was now walking towards them. "Hi there, you two," she said giving the two of them a slight smile.

"Uhhh, hi there," Asher said, slightly uncertain. He looked over at Landon who simply shrugged his shoulders. "What's up?"

"I heard an interesting rumor about the two of you that I wanted to see was true or not..." Ailey explained.

"Which one, the one about me and Landon not having Keyblades?" Asher asked.

Ailey looked a little shocked. "So...it's true, you're the only people here who don't have Keyblades?"

Asher nodded his head. "Yup, and as such it's earned us the rather unimaginative name of the keyless."

Ailey laughed a little. "Well, at least the nickname isn't that bad; it's just pointing out the truth."

"You know, you're a rather odd girl. Most people who hear we don't have Keyblades end up running the other way thinking that by hanging out around us they'll lose the ability to summon their own," Landon explained.

Ailey sighed loudly. "Yeah, when I asked about the two of you everyone said that. I can't believe how stupid people can be. You can't lose the Keyblade just because of who you hang out with."

"You know...I kind of like you Ailey..." Asher said. Ailey smiled, and he returned the smile. Asher looked down at his watch and sighed. "Well, I hate to keep the big doofus waiting at the park. Who knows what he might do when he's bored?"

Ailey looked a little confused. "What's...going on?"

Landon sighed. "There's this guy named Caleb who still bullies us for not having Keyblades, and since Asher doesn't know when to shut his mouth, Caleb wants to fight him."

"So...you're going to go fight him?"

Asher nodded his head. "Yeah. It shouldn't be that hard. I mean, he relies on brute strength alone."

"But isn't fighting someone with a Keyblade when you can't use one kind of dangerous?"

Asher laughed a bit. "Ailey...it's a giant freaking key. Firstly, if I was going to go into any sort of serious fight, a key would be the _last_ weapon I would bring with me; and secondly, the Keyblade is only really effective against Heartless and Nobodies. The most he'll give me is a lump on the head."

Ailey sighed, shook her head, and shrugged her shoulders. "Whatever you say, Asher..."

Landon looked over at the teenage girl. "If you're going to hang out with the two of us, you had better get used to this."

Ailey gave Landon an odd look. "What, you mean this isn't uncommon for the two of you?"

Landon sighed. "It's uncommon for me because I at least know to keep my mouth shut. Asher, on the other hand..."

"Generally speaks before thinking?"

"_Always_ speaks before thinking. Sometimes I wonder if he's even thinking when I talk to him."

"You two know I can still hear you, right?" Asher said as he turned his head.

"I know that you can hear us, and that's exactly why I'm saying what I'm saying," Landon explained.

Asher sighed and shook his head. "You know that I _do_ think occasionally."

"Yeah, you think about what you want for dinner and that's about the extent of it."

Asher sighed again and turned back around. "Well, we had better get to the park. I fear that Caleb may get bored and start playing on the play set even though it says it's only for ages six and up...I don't think he can count that high."

"See, that's the very thing that's going to get you in trouble one day, Asher," Ailey pointed out.

"One day? It already has..._multiple_ times, I mean, look, it got him in trouble today!" Landon exclaimed.

"You know, Landon...sometimes I wonder how we're friends."

"I ask myself that question almost every day. You almost never cease to give me at least a minor headache."

"You two certainly have an interesting relationship," Ailey said, shaking her head.

"Hey, what's the old saying...opposites attract, right?" Asher asked.

"Yeah, about the only thing we're not opposite about is the fact that neither of us have a Keyblade," Landon sighed out.

"Okay, okay, enough talk and more walk. I want to hurry up and get this over with," Asher said as he stretched his legs real quick. "Up for a race, Landon?"

Landon sighed. "A race to the place where you're about to get beaten...sure."

Asher turned around and faced Ailey. "You going to come?"

Ailey put her head in her hands. "Yeah, I might as well. You might need some healing afterwards."

Asher put on a pained face. "Oh ye of little faith, you pain me with your words, kind angel."

Ailey looked at Asher in confusion at what he had just said before she looked to his side. "Uhh, you know Landon has already left...right?"

Asher's eyes widened as he looked to his side and saw that Landon was indeed gone. "That jerk, I'm going to beat the crap out of him when I catch up!" Asher shouted as he started to run forward as fast as he could.

-|AT THE PARK|-

Landon sat on a bench, catching his breath and looked around. He saw Caleb's group, but they hadn't noticed that he had arrived. He put his head on the back of the bench and sighed. "Three...two...one," he counted down to himself. He ducked quickly as Asher came flying in over him. Asher slid across the wood chips and looked at Landon in surprise. Landon laughed at his friend's expression. "You are so predictable, you know..."

Asher just glared at his friend for a moment before he saw Landon pointing somewhere. Asher looked to where his friend was pointing and saw Caleb and two other teenage boys all looking at him. "Well, looks like I got here just in time to save the play set." He heard a noise come from his side and looked over. He saw Landon holding his head with the palm of his head and shaking his head back and forth while mumbling something.

Caleb looked at Asher in confusion for a moment before he took a few steps forward. "Are you ready to finally learn your place, keyless?"

Asher sighed. "Again with the keyless name. Come on already, it's really _not_ that insulting. It would be like me insulting you by saying you're an idiot; everybody knows that's true so therefore, not really an insult."

"Asher...you really are an idiot, you know that right?" Landon asked his friend.

"No, I'm blunt."

"In this case Asher, I'm going to have to agree with Landon," Ailey said as she walked up to the bench.

"'In this case'? Almost this whole time you've been agreeing with him! If it really was 'in this case' that would imply that you've agreed with me before and to my knowledge you haven't," Asher explained.

"You know Asher, you may want to pay more attention to the person that's giving you the death glare right now," Landon said as he pointed at Caleb.

Asher turned around quickly. "Oh, sorry for ignoring you...so, where were we?"

"We were at the part where I beat your face in," Caleb growled.

"Ohhh, right, well then, shall we begin?"

"With pleasure!" Caleb shouted as he raised his fist above his shoulder. Caleb quickly jabbed at Asher's face, but Asher moved his head to the side and the punch messed up a few of his hairs.

"Whoa, nice power you have there, if that had connected I would be on the ground right now," Asher commented. Caleb growled again and lowered his arms. He then started to go into an uppercut and just as he started to swing his arm up, Asher moved to the side. Caleb's fist barely missed Asher. "Pretty quick, too. You're not that bad, I must say."

"Shut up already!" Caleb shouted. Caleb then started to unleash a flurry of jabs and punches at Asher. However, Asher moved to the side or ducked and caused all the attacks to miss. Caleb took a few steps back and was breathing hard. "How...are you doing that?"

"Skill," Asher said simply.

Ailey looked at the teen in slight surprise. "I was expecting this to be a pretty one-sided battle, but Asher...he's pretty good."

Landon smirked slightly. "Yeah, when me and Asher realized that we wouldn't be able to use Keyblades--or at least, not yet--both of us decided to find other ways to fight. Asher decided to go the martial arts route, while I stuck with sword fighting."

"For some reason, I thought _you_ would have taken up martial arts and _he_ would be the sword fighter," Ailey explained.

Caleb continued to breathe hard. He looked behind Asher and noticed Ailey. "Well...who is that behind you? Another...useless keyless?"

Asher turned around. "Oh, you mean Ailey. Nope, not a keyless, or at least she says she isn't."

Caleb moved his head so he looked right at Ailey. "Why don't you abandon these two losers and come join a real man?" he asked.

Ailey gained a look of disgust on her face. "I haven't been here that long, but I can already tell you that there is no way I'd come with you."

"Fine, how about if I win you go on a date with me?"

"You can make that agreement with Asher, but I promise you, there is no way I'll ever go on a date with you," Ailey said as she turned her head in disgust.

Caleb growled. "Okay, enough screwing around," he said as he opened his palm. A flash of light announced the arrival of a Keyblade. The Keyblade was simple with a basic golden handle and a silver shaft. At the end of the shaft was a three-pointed crown that gave the weapon its key-like shape.

"Oh, bringing out the Keyblade now are we? Wait a minute...you're a senior right?" Asher asked.

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Well, I thought that when you became a senior you got a Keychain. But, you're a senior and you're still using the Kingdom Key...that means that no Keychain chose you to use it."

Caleb's face twisted in rage. "I may not have been chosen by a Keychain, but at leave I have a Keyblade!" he shouted as he raised the weapon above his head.

He swung down hard but Asher moved to the side quickly. "Let me tell you what you're doing wrong. You're announcing your attacks with your eyes and the way you move your arm. If you're going to attack someone, do it like this," Asher said as he quickly closed the distance between the two of them. Asher launched a quick uppercut into Caleb's stomach, causing the larger teen to stumble back in pain. Asher then spun around and kicked Caleb in the side. His kick made Caleb cry out in pain as he held his stomach with one hand and his side with the other.

Landon started clapping his hands. "Looks like you're finally getting the art of dodging down; now you just need to improve your speed and you might be a match for me."

"Hey, I could take you on at any time and any place," Asher taunted back.

"That isn't what our last match said, now did it?"

Asher growled slightly and Ailey laughed. "You two are pretty close, aren't you?" Ailey asked.

Asher looked at the teenage girl and nodded his head. "Yup, been friends ever since the second grade."

"I've only regretted it a few days of my life," Landon said, laughing.

Ailey laughed a bit too, but suddenly her eyes widened. "Asher, look out, behind you!" she shouted. Asher turned his head and saw that Caleb was right behind him and his Keyblade was already on the way down. Suddenly, the hand that Caleb was using to swing his Keyblade froze. He stopped mid-swing and held his hand and started to scream in terror. Asher turned around and saw Ailey holding a Keyblade. The Keyblade was mostly snow white. Along the handle was a vine wrapped around it with leaves and small flowers. Where the handle and shaft met was a small rose. The shaft was also snow white and had a vine wrapping around it with more leaves and flowers. At the very end were three green leaves. Ailey sighed loudly, "That could have been a lot worse."

"Ailey...you have a Keychain?" Asher asked surprised.

Ailey laughed a bit. "Yup, it's called Snow Flower. Pretty, isn't it?"

Asher nodded his head. "Yeah, it is. I'm just surprised that you have a Keychain...that kind of makes you a target too, you know."

"What are you talking about?"

"He means that you're also special. The only people here with Keychain are seniors, and even then only a small percent of them get accepted by a Keychain. You've basically painted a bulls-eye on yourself too. You should have just let Caleb smack Asher—he has a thick skull and you could have healed him."

Asher glared at his friend. "Well, _I'm_ thankful that you decided to help me out, Ailey."

"Hehe, it's what friends do, right?"

Asher smiled at her. "Well, the _good_ friends do that," Asher said as he looked at Landon, who shrugged his shoulders. "Oh well, what's done is done. How about you come over to my house for dinner, Ailey? I'm not sure what my mom is cooking, but..."

Ailey smiled. "Sorry, I'll have to decline for now. My family and I are still unpacking so I need to help them out. Maybe I'll take you up on that offer later. Speaking of unpacking, I had better get home before my parents start to get worried. I'll see you guys at school tomorrow!" she said as she turned around and ran off.

Landon and Asher stood there for a few seconds before Landon turned to his friend. "So, is that offer for dinner open to me, too?" he asked.

Asher sighed. "I guess at least _one_ of us has to be a good friend..."

A/N there we go, chapter one is done. If you want to see what Snow Flower looks like, I'll have a link to it in my profile, go check it out. Big thanks to Akira Shinji for 1) editing this chapter and 2) for drawing Snow Flower.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N alright, here we go with chapter 2. Just so you all know, the actual story won't start for a few chapters, but once it does, it won't be stopping for a long time.

It had been a week since Asher met Ailey. Asher was sitting at a table with two other people on his sides. There was an older teenage boy sitting on his left. The boy had the same brown hair as Asher, only it was longer and his green eyes reflected a more serious nature. On Asher's right was a small girl. The girl had two pigtails, and she had blue eyes instead of green. On the other side of the table was an older woman. She had long brown hair and the same green eyes that Asher and the other boy had. Asher sat holding his head in his hand as he shoved some cereal into his mouth. "Asher, get your elbow off the table," the older woman said.

Asher sighed and took his elbow off. "Then give me some coffee so that I'm not so tired, Mom."

"We learned our lesson about giving you coffee, Asher," the other boy said.

"Oh come on, Donovan, I was hyper for only fifteen minutes!" Asher exclaimed.

"Yeah, but those fifteen minutes felt like hours as we ran around the house trying to catch you," Donovan said as he put some cereal in his own mouth.

"I thought it was funny," the little girl said.

"That's because you weren't helping us catch him, Meg..."

"All right now, enough talking. You need to hurry up and eat and get to school," their mom said.

"Speaking of school, still falling asleep in class, Asher?" Donovan asked.

"Only once or twice so far...why do we have to study so much history this year?" Asher asked.

"Because it's important to know about the events that happened in the past. You know the old saying: 'Those that don't know about the past are doomed to repeat it,'" their mom explained.

"Yeah, but Heartless and Nobodies aren't going to be dumb enough to attack here. There are so many Keyblades here that they would get slaughtered..." Asher pointed out.

"Well, you're studying Sora's Journey, correct, that's an important one for you to learn about after all..."

"I know, I know, I'm almost a direct descendant of Sora, but I've had so much of Sora's story told to me throughout the years that I could tell you all about it in my sleep."

"Well then, this year ought to be easy for you if you know the story that well."

"Ha, school, easy for Asher? Yeah right, he'll still fall asleep in the middle of the test," Donovan said, chuckling a bit.

Asher slammed his head on the table. "That was _one_ time Donovan."

"I'm sorry, I've heard of people falling asleep during class but never in the middle of a test..."

"I was up all night long studying, okay? It's not really my fault that I suck at math...and that learning math is totally useless."

"You know, I think math is kind of fun," Meg said suddenly.

"Yeah, that's cause you're still in addition and subtraction. Just wait until you're in Algebra and you have figure out what X, Y, and Z all represent in the most round-about way possible," Asher explained. Suddenly, a knock at the door caught Asher's attention. "That's probably Landon," he said as he got up.

"Don't forget Asher, when you get home from school we're going to go over to the new neighbor's house and welcome them since they're done unpacking."

"Can I ask why we waited a week before welcoming them?" Asher asked as he picked his backpack up from beside the door and put it on his back.

"Because they were busy unpacking and I wanted them to settle into their house before we said hello. Remember when we first moved here and tried to unpack?"

Asher groaned. "How can I forget? I heard 'welcome to the neighborhood, have this casserole' so many times...please don't tell me you made a casserole for them..."

"Don't worry, I've made them a pie," his mom said.

Asher's mouth opened up a little bit. "Uh, Asher, you're drooling a little bit," Meg pointed out.

Asher shook his head and wiped his mouth. "Lucky neighbors..." he grumbled. Asher opened the door. "Hey there Lan...oh, hey there, Ailey!" Asher said, surprised.

Ailey stood in the doorway and nodded her head. "Hey there Asher, I saw that we lived close to each other so I figured we could walk to school together," she explained, smiling.

Asher thought about what she said for a moment. "Wait a minute...did you just move in down the street?"

Ailey nodded her head. "Yup, that was us."

Asher turned his head. "Hey Mom, I've already met at least one of the new neighbors, do I still have to come with you tonight?"

"Yes, Asher, you have to be polite!" his mom shouted. His mom then started to walk towards Ailey. "Hello there, my name is Heather Lane. It's nice to meet you..."

"Ailey, Ailey Cole," Ailey said as she held her hand up and gave the older lady a warm smile.

"Well, it's very nice to meet you Ailey."

Donovan then walked into the living room with Meg following him. "Well, well, what do you know, a girl actually came to pick Asher up...There goes my theory about Asher and Landon..."

Asher's face reddened and Ailey's face also turned red as she realized what Asher's brother had just said. "Will you shut up for once in your life, Donovan!"

Donovan shrugged his shoulders. "Can you really blame me for thinking that you were..."

Heather smacked her son upside the head. Donovan was about to protest when he saw his mom pointing at Meg. Meg had her head tilted to the side with a curious expression on her face. "The _last_ thing I want to explain to Meg is what you were about to imply about your brother."

"What was big brother about to say?" Meg asked innocently.

Donovan started to laugh and only laughed harder when he saw his mom glaring at him. "Hey, this is all your fault; you can't blame this one on me."

"All right Ailey, I think we had better hurry up now."

Ailey nodded her head several times. "Yeah...this is getting a little awkward now."

The two of them continued to walk in silence on the way to school until Asher spoke up. "So...where did you live before you moved here?"

"I used to live in Radiant Garden. My dad heard about a job opening here and also heard how there was a really good school for people with Keyblades so he moved us here."

"What does you dad do?"

"He helps build gummi ships. Pretty boring job really from what I've heard."

"Hey, I don't think there's anything boring about it..." Asher said.

Ailey looked at him in confusion. "What, is that what you're planning on doing?"

Asher nodded his head. "Yeah, I mean, it's not like I can really do much else here since this place is primarily military. Since I don't have a Keyblade, that kind of limits a lot of options for me..."

Ailey looked down in disappointment. "Yeah, that has to be hard, not having a Keyblade and all."

"Meh, it's not like I'm blind, deaf, or anything like that. I mean, I can still cast magic so I'm not totally useless if Heartless attack, but I can't really do much to protect my family..."

Ailey looked down and they continued their trip in silence. When they reached the school they saw Landon already waiting for them outside. "Wow Ailey, you managed to pull a miracle and get Asher here somewhat early."

"You know Landon, most of the time _you're_ the one who comes to get me late so you should only blame yourself for me being almost late."

"You also forget though that I've had to wake you up a few times and another few times you weren't even close to ready yet and also..."

"You know Landon...you can just shut up..."

"Oh, is that really the best you can come up with at this time of morning?"

Asher growled slightly. "Yes, as a matter of fact it is..."

Landon laughed. "You really are useless in the morning, aren't you?"

"Well, isn't just about anybody useless in the morning?" Ailey asked.

"Not me, I'm up and beating Asher right now, that's a pretty rare thing..."

"Just wait until later on in the day...I'll get you back for this somehow..."

Landon laughed. "You know Asher, I would _love_ to see you try."

Suddenly, the bell rang and the three of them headed inside quickly. All three of them sat down and waited for Professor Hodges to arrive. Professor Hodges arrived just a few moments later and read the roll quickly. "Today we're going to start off with a bit of magic control practice. If you would all follow me outside." The whole class got up at the same time and walked out of the school. The lined up outside in the middle of a wide open field. "Now this test is simple, all of you have an element that you are naturally good with. You should also know what element that is since you were tested last year. All you have to do is summon that element and keep it summoned for the longest period of time. Simple, no?"

All the students looked at each other in confusion at how simple the assignment was. Finally, one student raised their hand. "Are you going to be doing anything while we're doing this?"

Professor Hodge's eyes widened. "Why yes, I will. I shall be using my own magic to attempt to distract you while you keep your magic going. Now, all of you summon your elements, and we'll begin."

Ailey looked over at Asher and Landon. "So what elements do you guys control? I myself use ice."

"I use lightning," Landon explained.

"Fire," Asher said simply.

Professor Hodges suddenly spoke up again. "All right, everyone has their elements summoned, so let's begin." As soon as he said begin a light rain started to fall.

"Oh, great..." Asher complained.

Ailey looked at her friend and laughed. "Rain puts you at a disadvantage, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, fire and water don't really mix that well...you're lucky, the water just freezes and makes your element grow larger."

"Yeah, but the larger it becomes, the harder it becomes to control it. What about Landon, his element is lightning so wouldn't the water become charged and shock him?"

"Do you really think I'm going to be hurt that much by my own element?" Landon asked.

Ailey jumped slightly, causing her element to shift a tiny bit. "Oh geez, I forgot you were there."

Landon rolled his head dramatically. "You seem to do that a lot when you're talking to Asher."

Asher looked over at his friend. "What, are you jealous now that I have another friend besides you?"

"No, because if that was the case, then you would be jealous that I have another friend besides you too."

Asher seemed to think about that for a moment. "I...suppose that makes sense..."

"Hey, can you keep it down there you idiot?" a boy asked from next to Asher. The boy was clearly having trouble controlling his element which was earth.

"Sorry, looks like I'm not really the idiot, you're the one having trouble controlling your element. I'm doing just fine, and my element is fire...and it's _raining_."

The boy next to Asher growled and ball of mud above his hand started to shudder slightly. Soon all the mud fell and covered his hand. "You keyless idiot, look what you made me do!"

Asher shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, it's not my fault you can't control your element when someone is talking to you."

"That's it," the boy said as he started to walk towards Asher.

"That's quite enough, only I can provide a distraction," Professor Hodges said calmly.

"But Professor, he distracted me!"

"No, all I did was talk to you; I would hardly call that a distraction. Heck, I've talked to Ailey here a few times and I don't hear her complaining."

"Actually, I kind of welcome it, this is pretty boring," Ailey explained.

"See, so if talking is a distraction, Ailey would have complained about it."

The boy growled and kicked the dirt. There were still a good fifteen students left; however, as time passed the number was quickly cut down to seven. "Getting harder over there, Asher?" Landon asked innocently.

"You know...you can shut up any time now, Landon," Asher growled. He had a look of concentration in his eyes as he stared intently at the fireball over his hand. The fire was very slowly losing power and flickered a tiny bit.

"Asher, maybe you should stop..." Ailey said concerned.

Asher started to pant slightly. "Hehe, thanks for the concern Ailey, but I can handle this..."

"No Asher, you can't. You passed your limit a long time ago considering the rain. Just let the fire die," Landon said.

Asher sighed and let the fire in his hands die down. He then collapsed to the ground panting lightly. "Are you okay?" Ailey asked.

"Yeah...just give me a second..."

Ailey looked over at Landon. "What's wrong with him?"

"Well, as you know, Keyblades let people control their magic better. Since Asher and I don't have Keyblades, our magic control isn't really the best..."

"But you're still here, and you seem to be doing fine."

"There's two things about that, though. Number one, my element isn't in direct opposition with rain, and number two, I've always been better at magic then Asher was. Remember when Asher fought Caleb last week and how I brought up the fact that the last time he and I fought, I won?" When Ailey nodded her head Landon continued. "Well, the only reason I won is because I'm better at magic then he is. In a contest of fists, Asher beats me hands down; in a contest of magic, I beat him."

"I see, I wonder where I would fit in then..." Ailey said as she put her finger on her chin.

"I don't know, I would say you could join us for a fight, but there's no way Asher would fight you."

"Why not, just because I'm a girl?"

Landon nodded his head. "Yeah, honor code for him."

"Well, what if me and him somehow happened to have to spar against each other during Keyblade control?"

Landon shook his head. "No, remember, me and Asher can't use Keyblades so instead we are forced to fight each other...it get really boring sometimes."

"All right, I think that's quite enough," Professor Hodges said as the rain stopped. The professor walked over to Landon. "I must say, I've heard it from your previous teachers, but even though you can't use a Keyblade, your ability to control magic is remarkable."

Landon nodded his head once. "Thank you, Professor, that means a lot."

-|LUNCH TIME|-

"Oh lunch time, why can't you be a class?" Asher asked as he sat down at the table.

"Because it would make no sense," Landon pointed out.

"What are you talking about? It could make sense..."

"How Asher, how would lunch time being a class make any sort of sense?"

"Simple, we all have to cook our own lunches. Whoever doesn't manage to burn down the school gets an A."

"And what about the person who _does_ burn down the school…"

"Well then, they would manage to fail the easiest class of all time, and they would also get a huge pat on the back from me."

"I think they would get a pat on the back from almost the entire school," Ailey said as she sat down next to Asher.

Asher's eyes suddenly widened and Landon gained a concerned look on his face. "Asher...what are you thinking?"

Asher started to laugh slightly and his laugh slowly became louder. "Asher...I don't like that laugh very much."

"Don't you guys see? I could cause an accident anytime I wanted to..."

Landon smacked his forehead with his palm. "I _knew_ you were a pyromaniac, I just knew it..."

"Asher...you wouldn't actually do that, would you?"

"You haven't seen him, Ailey. I swear I've heard him _laughing_ at an explosion before..."

Asher smirked at the two of them. "Oh come on now, do you really think I would be that stupid? No, no, no. I would wait for the _perfect_ opportunity to strike...then watch this whole place burn down."

"You see, right there, when you say things like that it makes me think you're a pyromaniac," Landon said pointing a finger at his friend. "And I could just see your face now; you would be watching this place burn down with a weird, large grin on your face. I mean, heck, look at you now, just _thinking_ about it and you have a crazy smile on your face."

Ailey looked at her friend and jerked away suddenly. "Asher....that smile does _not_ look good on you..."

Asher shook his head. "Oh come on, do you really think I would do that?"

"Yes!" Landon shouted. "And that smile you just had on your face proved it!"

Asher shook his head. "You've known me for most of my life and yet you still have so little faith in me...You pain me, my good friend."

Ailey looked at Landon in confusion. "You know, he pulled this with me last week, talking like that. What's up with that?"

Landon sighed and shook his head. "I have no idea. My current running theory is that he gets into modes like this to make him _seem_ smart..."

"Hey, I don't have to _seem_ smart if I am smart," Asher protested.

"All right then, prove it. If you remember, we have a quiz today for history. If you can score a hundred on it, then I'll start to believe you..."

Asher smacked his head. "Oh come on, you know that smarts don't come just from books..."

"Hey, you're the one who said you were smart, I'm just giving you the opportunity to prove it."

"Fine, I'll do it," Asher said as he smacked his fist on his chest. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go study..."

Ailey looked at Landon who was smirking. "There's no way he'll get a hundred...is there?"

"Nope, history has never been his strong point..."

-|AFTER SCHOOL|-

"I still can't believe this..." Landon said in disbelief. Landon was looking at a piece of paper in his hands.

Asher was walking along with a huge grin on his face. "I _told_ you I was smart."

"B…But, you've always have been horrible at history, where did _this_ come from?"

Asher waved his finger. "Landon...you're forgetting something; I've been told stories about Sora since I was a little kid. The only reason I've been sleeping in that class this year is because I already knew all that stuff."

Landon growled slightly under his breath and shoved the paper underneath Asher's nose. "You win this round..."

Ailey walked out of the front door and found a laughing Asher and a fuming Landon and chuckled to herself. "Your plan didn't go quite the way you thought it would, Landon?" she asked.

Landon grumbled to himself. "I'm going to go home to escape this. I'll see you tomorrow at the normal time, all right Asher?"

Asher nodded his head. "Yeah, sounds good, I'll see you tomorrow then."

Landon started to walk away and raised his arm and waved goodbye. Asher also raised his hand and waved goodbye to his friend. Ailey looked at her friend in confusion. "What's going on between the two of you?"

"Oh, me and Landon meet every Saturday at my house and just hang out. We've been doing it for a long time now. Hey, how about you join us tomorrow?"

Ailey shook her head. "No, it sounds like this is important to the two of you."

"Oh, come on, you're our friend, I'm sure he won't mind."

Ailey thought about it for a moment more and nodded her head. "All right, what time should I come over?"

"Be over at my place at ten in the morning. Also...you're bringing the chips. Wait a minute, do you know where I live?"

Ailey nodded her head. "Yeah, I saw you head home..."

Asher looked at her in confusion. "Wow, I don't think I've ever had a stalker before..."

Asher let out a cry of pain and held the back of his head. Ailey glared daggers at her friend while massaging her now slightly red hand. "I didn't stalk you. You live just up the street from me. I didn't have time to come up and say hi because I was too busy."

Asher whimpered a little bit. "Okay, okay, I get it...there was no reason to hit me."

Ailey smiled and stuck her tongue out at her friend. "I know, I just felt like it, and it was appropriate. All right, I'll see you tomorrow, Asher," she said as she turned around and started a light jog.

Asher sighed and started to walk in the same direction that Ailey had just taken off in. "I'm going to have to figure out a way to get Donovan out of the house. I can deal with Mom and Meg, but him...he could cause problems..."

A/N this was a...somewhat...hard chapter to do simply because I had to rewrite a lot of the chapter because I didn't like the way I was going, I made Asher OOC for a bit in only the second chapter (a new record I swear) but I think this way turned out much better.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N alright, chapter 3. Sure hope I don't end up re-writing portions of this like I ended up doing last chapter. Also, plot happens. Also, sorry that chapters 2 and 3 were so late in coming out...laziness is a terrible terrible thing at times and there's no excuse for it. Sorry again

Ailey lay in her bed, her hands curled up around the edge of her flowery sheets as she slowly shifted onto her side. Her eyes slowly opened, and she opened her mouth and yawned deeply. She then sat up and stretched her arms. She took the sheets off and revealed sky blue sweats that had a variety of flowers. She got out of her bed, slipped on a pair of slippers and looked around her room. Her room was pretty bare at the moment, with a simple nightstand sitting next to her bed and a variety of paintings adorned her walls, each painting showing a different type of flower. She walked out her door and walked downstairs. When she got downstairs, the smell of waffles drifted into her nose. She walked into the kitchen and saw a man and woman both in the kitchen. The man looked around thirty and had black hair. A pair of glasses sat on top of his nose and magnified his brown eyes. The woman looked only a couple years younger and had the same blond hair that her daughter had. She turned around and revealed a pair of bright blue eyes. "Oh you're up just in time. I was about to come up and tell you that breakfast was ready," the woman explained.

Ailey nodded her head and sat down at the table across from the man. In front of her was a wide variety of toppings for her waffles, which were soon in front of her. "Thanks, Mom," Ailey said with a smile.

"So, do you have anything planned?" the man asked as he started to cut up the waffles in front of him.

Ailey nodded her head. "Yeah, I'm going over to Asher's house today."

The man seemed to think about something for a moment. "Asher...He's the boy that came over last night with the pie, wasn't he?" Ailey nodded her head and the man put a finger on his chin. "I don't know...don't you think you may be moving a bit too quickly?"

Ailey looked at her dad in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean, you've only known this boy for a week and yet you're already going over to his house..."

Ailey blushed at what her dad was implying. "I...It isn't like that! Anyways, it won't be just me and Asher, another one of his friends is going to be over there too."

"And is this other friend a boy too?"

"W...well...yeah, he is..."

Her dad started to beat his finger against his chin. "I don't know about this, Ailey..."

"Oh stop bugging her, dear. It's good that's she's already made friends after only a week," her mom said as she sat down.

"Thank you, Mom," Ailey said as she smiled at the other woman.

The three of them continued to eat in relative silence. When Ailey was done she got up and walked over to the sink and rinsed her dishes. "Thanks for breakfast, Mom. It was good as usual. I'm going to go up stairs and get dressed now."

"All right," her mom said. Ailey walked out of the room and headed upstairs. She closed her bedroom door and opened up her closet. In front of her was a wide variety of clothes, and off to the side was her school uniform. She started to look at each piece of clothing before deciding on one combination and pulling it out. Soon, she was checking herself over in the mirror. She was a now in a somewhat long yellow skirt that went just past her knees with a variety of flowers on the skirt and a simple, white, button down shirt. Ailey looked herself over one more time and nodded her head.

She walked out her door, but just when she reached the edge of the stairs she stopped and held her head. She wobbled back and forth slightly and shook her head. "Whoa, that was weird..." Ailey regained herself and headed downstairs. "Hey Mom, do we have any unopened bag of chips around?"

Ailey's mom reached up above the refrigerator and pulled one down. "Yeah, here, why?"

"Asher told me that I had to bring a bag of chips with me. All right, I'll be home later this afternoon."

"Be careful, Ailey," her father said.

"Don't worry Dad, I'll be just fine," Ailey assured her father as she opened up the door and walked outside. When she closed the door she took a deep breath and started to walk to Asher's house. Within a couple of minutes she was standing outside the house. She straightened out her shirt and knocked on the door. The door was opened by Asher's little sister. "Hi there, is Asher around?"

"Oh, you're the girl from yesterday. Ailey, right? Yes, Asher is home, he and Landon are in the backyard in the shed," Asher's mom said as she suddenly appeared in the doorframe.

"Thank you, do you mind if I come in?" Ailey asked.

"Not at all. Here, let me take that bag of chips for you," his mom said as she grabbed the bag.

Ailey smiled at the older woman. "Thank you very much." As Ailey walked through the house, she looked around. It was a fairly simple house with pictures lining the walls showing the family in different stages. When she entered the kitchen to go to the backyard, she saw that Asher's mom had something in the oven. Ailey took a deep breath and sighed at the nice smell. "If you don't mind me asking, what is in the oven?"

Asher's mom smiled warmly. "Every Saturday I make a pie for Asher and Landon. When Asher told me that there was going to be a third person here, I figured I might make a slightly larger pie."

Ailey's eyes widened slightly. "Oh, I just wanted to say thank for that pie you had Asher bring over yesterday. It was really, really good."

"Why thank you, if you ever want some more I have a small shop in the middle of town. I can't give you free pie, but I can give you a nice discount."

"Thank you very much. I'm going to go out and tell Asher I'm here now."

"Just a fair warning, be prepared for some loud noises when you get out there. You'll see what I mean soon enough."

Ailey nodded and opened the sliding glass door in front of her. There was a fairly large shed across the yard that took up most of the back half. There were loud noises coming from the shed and Ailey slowly started to walk closer. As she approached, eventually she was covering her ears, and she heard faint shouting coming from the other side, but the noise drowned out whatever was being said. She pounded on the closed door and waited a moment. The loud noises stopped and the door slid open. "Oh, hey there Ailey," Asher said as he gave the girl a smile. Asher wore somewhat odd clothes for the tropical environment of Destiny Islands. He wore a black shirt with a dark blue vest over top of it. He had on black, fingerless gloves, dark blue jeans, and a pair of sneakers.

Ailey looked over her friend once and gave him an odd look. "Aren't you...hot in that?"

"Ailey, you're forgetting something. This is the kid whose primary element is fire..." Landon explained as he walked into the open doorway. Landon was in more reasonable clothes. He also wore jeans, but they were light blue. He had on a simple white shirt with red stripes up the sleeves and a pair of flip flops.

"But still, you only control fire...not temperatures, right?"

Asher shrugged his shoulders. "Meh, I'm pretty comfortable."

Ailey looked into the shed. "So what were the two of you up to? I heard a lot of noise when I was walking up here..."

Asher's eyes widened a tiny bit. "Oh yeah, come on in and check it out," he said as he moved out of the way. Ailey walked inside and her mouth opened up at what she saw. In front of her was a gummi ship, and not a model-sized one, an actual gummi ship. The colors were the typical light oranges and whites of an unpainted gummi ship. On the rear of the gummi ship was a large engine surrounded by four smaller ones. She looked at the wings and noticed that underneath each wing were two different types of guns and a turret on the top of the wings.

"W...whoa..." Ailey said as she continued to look at the ship in front of her.

"Yeah, it will look really nice once we paint it. Unfortunately, that's where we've hit our problem."

"I've let you paint the last two gummi ships how you wanted to, now let me decide for once!" Landon shouted.

"Oh come on, there's nothing wrong with flames again..."

"Yes there is...you're never going to become a gummi ship builder if every single one of your gummi ships are painted the same way..."

"It shall be my mark, my signature if you will," Asher said dramatically.

"Yeah, you and the signature of every other unimaginative person alive," Landon mumbled just loud enough for Asher to hear.

"Oh yeah, and what's your brilliant idea, a lightning bolt maybe?"

Landon growled slightly and took a few deep breaths. "No, I'm not that uncreative, we already did a lightning bolt. I figured that we could do a simple blue, white, and yellow design, keep it simple for once, no crazy designs."

"'Keep it simple'? How much simpler is a flame on a pure white gummi ship?"

Landon put his head in his hand. "Did you not hear the 'crazy designs' part of what I just said?"

"Yeah, I heard that; flames aren't crazy though, they're simple!"

Ailey started to laugh at the two of them. "You guys just got done building it, why even paint it right now?"

"Because, what we put into the gummi ship was our heart and soul. What we paint it is a reflection of that for everyone to see," Asher said dramatically.

"Or in this case, a chance for Asher to show the world that he really, really likes fire," Landon said.

"How about the two of you argue about that another time...I'm guessing you had more plans then just building this since you invited me over."

Asher nodded his head a couple of times. "Yeah, I wasn't really sure what kind of movies you liked so I figured we could go pick some up and watch them."

Ailey nodded her head. "All right, sounds like a plan."

The three of them headed inside where Asher's mom was sitting on the couch with a book. "We're going to walk up to the movie store, be back in a few minutes."

"All right, remember to stay on the sidewalk!"

"Don't worry, if anyone comes after us, I'll use Asher like a battering ram. His skull is thick enough to block just about anything that comes our way."

"Wait a minute...are you saying you would use me to block a car?" Asher asked in shock.

Landon looked at his friend and nodded. "That's exactly what I'm saying, good job on figuring that one out Asher. Like I said, don't worry about it, your skull's thick enough to take just about anything we can throw at it."

Asher grumbled a few times, and both Ailey and his mom chuckled slightly. "We're leaving now!" Asher said as he opened the front door and headed outside. The three of them started to head up the street when Asher stopped and looked across. "Hey Landon...didn't the Canes used to live there?" he asked as he pointed across the street. Where Landon was pointing was a large, dark hole.

Landon looked at the hole in confusion. "Yeah...they did...wonder what happened there. I know it wasn't like that this morning and if there was an explosion we would have heard it..."

Ailey laughed a bit. "I don't know about that last part, the two of you working was pretty loud."

"Well, did you hear any sort of explosion this morning Ailey?" Asher asked.

Ailey shook her head. "We would have known if there was one anyways. We would have smoke and fire trucks surrounding this whole area...wonder what the heck happened there..."

Asher shrugged his shoulders. "Not sure, I'll ask my mom when we get home. She was good friends with Mrs. Cane." The three of them continued to the movie store in relative silence. When they got inside they all split up and started to look at the movies.

Soon, Landon and Ailey each came back with only one movie. "Wonder what's taking Asher so long..." Ailey said.

"It takes Asher a long time. He's what you might call a movie buff..." Landon said.

"Hey there guys...could you help me out a bit?" Asher asked. Ailey's eyes widened when she saw how many movies Asher was holding. She could barely even see his face because of all the movies.

"H...how many movies do you have?" Ailey asked.

Asher tried to shrug his shoulders but this action caused some movies to fall out of his hands. "I just grabbed a lot of movies that I've seen before and let you pick some out to watch."

"Wouldn't you just own the movies?" Ailey asked. Suddenly, Ailey put her hands to her head again and closed her eyes in pain. When she opened her eyes, she noticed that Asher and Landon were also holding their heads. "Man...That's the second time today that's happened..."

Asher looked at Ailey in slight confusion. "Wait...what are you talking about? That's happened to us too..."

Ailey looked surprised. "What time did it happen?"

Landon thought about it for a moment. "It was just a few minutes before you came over actually."

Ailey's eyes widened. "That was when I got the headache too!"

Asher crossed his arms and started to tap his foot against the ground. "That's odd...wonder what's going on here..."

"I'm not sure, but now I'm a little worried..." Ailey said. Suddenly, the front door to the movie store slammed open and a man stumbled inside. A crowd of people quickly gathered around the man and looked down.

"H...Heartless..." the man choked out before his head hit the ground.

Asher and Landon looked at each other quickly. "Why would Heartless attack here? We haven't had a Heartless attack since when?"

"If I remember correctly, the last attack was about six years ago. Since then we haven't had an attack. You're right though, it is odd. With all the Keybearers here we should be safe..."

A woman looked at Landon in confusion. "What are you talking about? We've been having Heartless attacks almost every month now! And what are these Keybearers you're talking about? We need to hurry up and get to a shelter," she said before running off.

"Okay, now what the heck is going on here?" Asher asked.

"I don't know...she didn't seem to know what a Keybearer was...did she?" Ailey asked.

"Yeah...but that's odd...everyone here was a Keybearer except for me and Asher...come on guys, we're going to go outside and check this out for ourselves," Landon said as he took off in a run towards the door.

"Hey, hold on a minute Landon!" Asher shouted as he took off after his friend. Ailey opened her mouth but quickly closed it and ran off after her friends. Outside looked totally different from what it had looked like before. Several buildings were destroyed and flames could be seen from across the islands. A large group of people was running in the distance, behind them was a large mass of Heartless. Some of the Heartless saw Asher's group and split apart and started to run towards the teens. The Heartless were small with large yellow eyes and antennae on their heads. "Any brilliant ideas since you're the one who charged out here without thinking?"

Landon smirked and opened up both of his hands. Soon, lightning surrounded both of his hands and quickly increased in power. He raised his hand and a lightning bolt shot across and struck through two of the Shadow Heartless. Landon then spun around and raised one hand to the sky. "Come forth, Thunder!" he shouted. Out of the clear sky, several small lightning bolts shot down and crushed the Shadow Heartless in no time flat. "How is that for brilliant ideas?" he asked Asher.

"Works for me...come on, we're going back to my house...I'm worried about my family."

"Sounds like plan to me. Come on Ailey," Landon said. Ailey slowly nodded her head and the three of them started to run quickly towards Asher's house. When they were outside of the house, they all stopped suddenly and gripped their heads again.

"What do these headaches mean?" Ailey asked after a minute.

"I don't know...but after we have them something bad happens..." Landon said.

"We don't have time to think about that!" Asher said as he opened the door to his home. A totally different sight awaited the group. There were a variety of holes in the walls. All the pictures that had lined the hallway were gone. "Mom! Meg! Donovan, are you here?!" Asher called as he ran into the house. Asher tore through the home in a desperate search for his family.

"Asher, is that you?" a voice that was recognized as his mother's asked.

"Mom, where are you?" Asher called. Asher's mom walked out of a room at the end of the hallway. She wore ragged clothing with a variety of holes in it. Her hair was an absolute mess and looked like it hadn't been taken care of in years. "Mom, what happened to you?"

"What are you talking about Asher? I'm doing fine," she said looking at the boy in confusion.

"But...your clothes and hair...they look totally different. Enough about that, where is Meg and Donovan?"

Asher's mom looked at her son in confusion. "Meg? I don't know who that is, but don't you remember? Donovan died three years ago in a Heartless attack..."

Asher's eyes widened and he took a few steps back. "No...he was here this morning...I remember, he was sitting right next to me at breakfast."

Asher's mom looked concerned and put her hand on her son's forehead. "Are you sure you're not sick, honey?"

Asher pushed her hand away and took more steps back. "What...what the hell is going on here?!" he shouted. Suddenly, he put his hands on his head and fell to his knees and closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes he let out a gasp.

Ailey let loose a small scream. "What...what happened to your mom, Asher? She was right here a minute ago!" she said in surprise.

Landon gained a worried look on his face. "This is getting weird now guys..."

Asher slammed his fists into the ground several times. A flame kicked up underneath his hand afterwards. Asher then clenched his fists, got up and charged out the door. "Asher, wait!" Ailey called out to her friend. She got up and followed him outside and when she stepped outside, the scene was even worse. All over the island was destruction. In place of the houses were more black holes like the one they had seen earlier. A loud rumbling caught their attention and they all looked across the island. They suddenly saw a large chunk of the island fall off and disappear into thin air. "What is going on?" Asher asked depressed.

Ailey gasped. "Guys...look up there," she said pointing. In the middle of the sky was a strange black portal. The portal seemed to twist and change size every second. Asher growled and ran back into the house. Landon and Ailey followed him and saw that he ran to the backyard and slammed the shed doors open. Inside, the new gummi ship was somehow still sitting there.

"Don't tell me you're planning on doing what I think you're planning," Landon said.

Asher didn't reply to his friend and grabbed a few things and opened the hatch to the ship. A loud rumbling filled the air again and Ailey looked over and saw a large part of the islands fall off again. "Guys..." she said worried.

"Asher...Think about this for a moment, we don't know where that portal leads to. Plus, we never even installed a barrier code into this thing, if we get in that ship we can't get out of here!"

"That's why I'm planning on going into the portal, it's still in the barrier," Asher said.

"That's crazy Asher, you can't just jump into a portal and hope it sends you somewhere else that's safe!"

"I don't care if it takes me somewhere safe or not! If you hadn't noticed I don't really have much here anymore!" Asher shouted.

"And what, you think me and Ailey are any different? We both had families living here too, you know!" Landon shouted angrily.

Asher didn't respond and started to climb into the ship. "Are you two coming or not?"

Landon growled but sighed in defeat. "There's no dealing with you...Fine, I'll come along, but just to make sure you don't get yourself killed."

"Are you coming, Ailey?" Asher asked.

Ailey looked to the island that was falling apart and the ship several times. She nodded her head silently and ran over to the ship and got in. Asher pushed a few buttons and the ship roared to life. "At least we know that it works now," Landon said.

Asher didn't reply but instead grabbed a wheel in front of him and pushed the wheel forward. The ship slowly took off but was in the air in a few seconds. He turned the wheel and pointed it at the portal. "Are you guys ready for the beginning of what could become the journey of a lifetime?" Asher asked.

"If we weren't we wouldn't be on this ship right now, now would we?" Landon asked.

"Are you ready Ailey?" Asher asked. Ailey simply nodded her head and the ship shot into the portal. Just as the ship entered the portal, several more pieces of Destiny Island fell off. Just a few minutes after that, the whole world split apart, and the pieces seemed to disappear into thin air. It was like the world had never even existed.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N and now, the story starts in full force. Hope you all enjoy it.

The space outside the gummi ship was odd. It was pure darkness with no light in any direction. In fact, the small light in the middle of the cabin seemed to dim considerably when they entered the strange portal. Asher's knuckles were white as he held on tight to the wheel in front of him, but the ship still rocked back and forth violently. Soon, the rocking stopped, and stars appeared in front of them. Asher let out a sigh of relief and leaned back into his chair. "Wow...That was intense..." he sighed as he placed his hand on his forehead.

Landon sighed too and leaned forward. "No kidding, coming out of a barrier creates a tiny bit of turbulence, but that was like traveling through five barriers all stacked on top of each other."

Asher turned around and saw Ailey looking down, her hair covering up her eyes. "Are you all right, Ailey?"

Ailey wiped her arm across her face and looked up at Asher. "Yeah...I'm fine."

"Ailey, if you really feel like crying it's all right," Landon said with sympathy.

"No, no, I'm fine, I promise. Do we have any idea where we are?"

Asher turned around and looked at a screen in front of him. "According to this we haven't moved a bit...I can't really say though since we've never traveled very far away from Destiny Islands."

"So what do we now, fly around and hope we hit a world?" Ailey asked.

Landon stood up. "That's all we can do right now, but we also have to remember that since we don't have a barrier code we can't go into the world so we'll have to use our radio and hope that the guy on the other end is kind enough to give us one."

"Geez, this is just becoming a bigger and bigger mess, isn't it?" Ailey asked.

"Well when you figure that we just rushed into a portal without any idea where it lead or anything like that...let's just say that this could be worse," Landon said.

"Hey, it was either that or go down with Destiny Islands, and I don't know about either of you, but I didn't feel like getting killed without figuring out what the heck happened," Asher said.

"I know, Asher, and I don't blame you. Honestly we didn't have time to look to see where the portal would take us. Now we just need to find a world and land..."

"Hey guys, there's one right over there," Ailey said as she pointed out the window. Both the boys looked out the window and saw the world that she was pointing to. The central feature of the world was a large stone castle and a large city surrounding it.

Landon looked at Asher who looked back at the other boy. "This is weird...There's no sign of a barrier around the world..." Asher said.

Landon crossed his arms. "Well, we need to go ahead and get down there and try to figure out where the heck we are. We've been through an unknown portal; how much worse could landing on a world be?"

"We'll never know until we land. Beginning landing sequence now. This ought to be pretty smooth since there's no barrier to get in our way," Asher explained as the ship started to descend onto the unknown world. When they were close enough, the three of them looked out the windows and saw large groups of people all walking around. Some of the people looked up and pointed at the ship as Asher moved on. They soon found an empty spot and Asher landed the ship. He hopped out first and started to look at every nook of the ship. "She still seems to be in good shape even though we went through all that turbulence, nothing loose or out of place."

"That's good, so we can leave here at any time, right?" Landon asked. Asher nodded his head. "So...any idea where we are?"

"Actually," Ailey said. Both of them turned around and saw her looking around. "I think I might know where this is, but if it is where I think it is, then it's changed a LOT in a week."

"Where do you think we are?" Asher asked.

"I think we're in Radiant Garden. I remember that large castle in the middle there," Ailey said as she pointed at the castle that they saw from space. "But the weird thing is that the town is a lot smaller. If were where I think we are there should be a lot of restaurants here, but as you can see it's nothing more then an empty plain."

"Are you sure about this, Ailey?" Landon asked.

"I can't be one hundred percent sure, but I don't know of any other world that has a castle like that one."

"Guess the only surefire way to learn where we are is to head to the town and ask around," Asher said as the three of them started to walk towards the castle. They stopped when they noticed that some of the shadows started to move around. Immediately, lightning appeared around Landon's hands and Asher raised his fists. Several Shadow Heartless appeared in front of the group and twitched some.

"Guess our journey to town won't be that peaceful..." Landon said.

"I'll handle these guys," Ailey said as Snow Flower flashed into her hands.

"Are you sure, Ailey?" Asher asked.

"Trust me, Asher, they're just Shadow Heartless, nothing to worry about," Ailey said, grinning a bit.

"But you shouldn't ever underestimate Heartless, even if you have a Keyblade," Landon warned.

"Landon, Asher...I never told this to you guys, but you're talking to the top of the class in Keyblade combat at Radiant Garden High."

"Wait...Top of your class?" Asher asked, slightly surprised.

"What, surprised?" Ailey asked as she slowly walked towards the group of Heartless. The Shadows charged towards the girl. The one closest to Ailey jumped up and raised its clawed hands. Ailey pointed a finger at the Heartless and froze it. As the frozen Heartless fell, Ailey spun around and slammed her Keyblade into it, shattering it. The other Heartless wasted no time and continued their charge towards Ailey. Ailey started to run towards the group too, only she jumped at the last moment and landed behind them. She quickly swung her Keyblade and destroyed two of the Shadows. The remaining three turned around and started to run towards her. She shook her head and waved her hand. A large pillar of ice shot up and destroyed two more Shadows. She saw the third one had jumped up and was heading right for her. "You guys never learn, do you?" she asked as she took a step back, avoiding the Heartless. She then quickly swung her Keyblade down and cut the small Heartless in two. She flipped a few hairs out of her face and looked at the two boys.

"That...was...awesome..." Asher said, his eyes wide and his mouth open slightly.

"I have to say, that was quite good," Landon said as he clapped his hands.

Ailey laughed a bit and bowed slightly. "Why thank you, you two. Now how about we continue our merry little journey?"

The three of them continued to walk and soon they found themselves in a large town. People walked in all directions and in and out of the variety of shops. The three of them looked around in awe for a moment before continuing to walk. They soon found themselves in front of the large castle. The castle was even larger then they had originally thought. A large drawbridge was down and two soldiers stood on either side, each of them holding a spear in one hand and a shield in the other. Outside of the castle was a large fountain with a statue in the middle. The statue was a variety of people all reaching up to a large heart, and from the heart poured out the water. Large crowds of people sat on the edge of the fountain, some talking, some cuddling, and some eating. "So...now that we're at the castle, what do we do?" Asher asked.

"Just...leave that to me," Landon said as he walked to a guard. "Excuse me, could one of you help me out?"

The guard on the left seemed to stiffen slightly. The two guards were in nearly identical armor, the only real difference is that the one of the left was in red and the one of the right was in blue. "What do you want?" the left guard asked.

"I was wondering if you could tell me where I am. You see, I was traveling on a gummi ship and my navigation unit stopped working. I noticed that this world didn't have a barrier around it so I thought I could come down here and get my bearings."

The left guard didn't lower his guard at all. "You're in Radiant Garden, anything else?"

Landon looked slightly surprised but shook his head. "No, but thank you for your help," Landon said as he turned around and walked back to his friends. "Well, Ailey was right, we're in Radiant Garden."

"But you said that this place is a lot smaller then the Radiant Garden you know, right?"

Ailey nodded her head. "Yeah, there a lot of weird things. Number one, I've noticed that the temperature is a lot milder then it was before, and number two is that it seems a lot more low tech. When I left we had vending machines and all sorts of neat things like that. Now I've seen some tech, but it seems pretty basic if you ask me."

Landon crossed his arms. "This is getting really weird, guys. We need to do some more investigating. Ailey and Asher, how about you two take a look around town? I'm going to head to the library and see if I can dig anything up."

"When and where should we meet?" Asher asked.

"I would say meet back here in two hours, sound good?" Landon asked. Asher and Ailey both nodded their heads and walked off.

Landon walked back over the guard. "Excuse me, sorry for bothering you again, but I was wondering if you could tell me where the library is."

The guard in red let out a small grunt. "Head south, it will be the large building on the left, can't miss it."

"Thank you again," Landon said as he walked off. As Landon headed for the library he constantly moved his eyes, looking at each person that passed him quickly but with precision. He soon found the large building that the guards had directed him to. The building had four large pillars in front and two large wooden doors. He looked at the building for a moment before stepping inside. When he got inside, his eyes lit up. In front of him was row upon row of a variety of books. He looked at the incredible display for a moment before walking over to the counter. "Excuse me, could you help me out?" he asked the lady behind the desk.

The lady who turned around was older and had long white hair and a pair of glasses. "Yes, what can I do for you?"

"I was wondering if you could direct me to any sort of books that talk about Radiant Garden."

"Why yes, if you will just follow me," the librarian said as she stepped out from behind the counter. She led Landon to the back of the library and pointed at a section. "Second row contains the history of not only Radiant Garden, but also several other worlds as well."

Landon looked at the spines of all the books. "Um, are there any books here about Destiny Islands?"

The lady looked at Landon in confusion. "Destiny Islands? I've never heard of that world...the only thing I can think of is something mentioned in very ancient history known as the Vanishing Islandss...would you like to look at that?"

Landon tried his best not to show his surprise at what he had just been told. "Yes...that would be very helpful, thank you."

-|WITH ASHER AND AILEY|-

Asher and Ailey walked around the large town both of them looking at each person carefully and peeking into some of the stores. "This is just really weird..." Ailey said.

"What's weird, the fact that the town is different?"

"Not just that. I've wandered around here for hours before, checking out the stores and things like that and I don't remember seeing any of these stores. Also, a lot of these clothes that people are wearing...there's no way somebody would be caught walking around in them..."

"So where does that leave us? We know that Destiny Islands just got wiped out and now Radiant Garden is different, but that doesn't really tell us much," Asher said.

Ailey pondered this for a moment. "No, unless you want to start getting out of the mindset of what is and isn't possible..." Asher looked at Ailey in surprise and the girl cocked her head. "What is it?"

"I think we're thinking down the same path right now..." Asher explained.

"All right, how about you tell me what you were thinking and I'll tell you if you're right."

Asher nodded his head and sighed. "I know how crazy this sounds, but what if we've gone back in time somehow? I mean, it would explain why the town and the people in here are so different, and it would also explain why the climate is different since it's been proven that worlds move almost constantly."

Ailey returned the expression that Asher had given her a moment ago. She then shook her head before responding. "You were right, we are thinking along the same path."

"But still, that doesn't really explain what happened to Destiny Islands..."

"Well, unless you want to really start thinking odd, then no."

"Well, let's say we were thinking really odd since there isn't really any other way to think right now, what would you say?"

"Well, the only explanation I can think of for the way Destiny Islands was destroyed, you know, the pieces falling off then disappearing into thin air, is for something to have happened to it in the past which caused its destruction."

"But there's one very big problem with your theory Ailey, although it does make a lot of sense if you have a really open mind," Asher said as he raised a finger into the air.

"Oh, and what would that problem be?" Ailey asked.

"If Destiny Islands _was_ destroyed in the past, why are me and Asher still alive even though we both saw my mom disappear?"

Ailey put her finger to her chin and closed her eyes. "You're right, it doesn't make sense that you two are still around...Not that I'm complaining or anything, I'm glad you two are still around!" Ailey said somewhat panicy and started to wave her arms.

Asher laughed. "Don't worry Ailey, I know you wouldn't mean it...or at least I sure hope you wouldn't mean it. But still, let's just say for the sake of that fact that we have no better theory at the moment that Destiny Islands was destroyed in the past. Do you have any idea what sort of impact that would have on the entire universe?"

Ailey nodded her head. "Yeah, we would be living in an entirely different place. If I remember correctly, the Awakening started there, which is what allowed almost everybody to have a Keyblade. Not to mention that Sora, Riku, and Kairi all came from there, and everybody knows the influence they had on the universe as a result of their battles."

Asher nodded his head. "Exactly. Some even think that if Destiny Islands was destroyed at any point, the Heartless population would get out of hand because most of the strongest Keybearers come from there."

Ailey shook her head. "The ramifications that it would have would be huge...wouldn't it?"

Asher nodded his head. "The ramifications would be numerous..." he said.

Suddenly, Asher perked up and ran backwards. Ailey looked at him in confusion as he looked inside a shop. "What are you looking at?"

Asher looked at her and smiled. "Want to know if we really are back in time? Let me go in here for a few minutes and I can tell you."

Ailey looked confused before looking at the sign above the store. The sign was a large gummi ship with a variety of gummi blocks around it. "All right, we still have plenty of time before we have to meet Landon. Maybe after you're done in here we can grab a bite to eat." Asher nodded his head and quickly entered the store.

-|TWO HOURS LATER|-

Asher and Ailey were both sitting on the edge of the fountain that Landon had told them to meet him at. Ailey was reading a book she had picked up and Asher was looking up at the sky apparently bored. "I'm telling you, you should have gotten some books," Ailey said, not taking her eyes off the page.

"And I'm telling you I would have if they had something I like," Asher retorted. Asher sighed and looked at the watch on his wrist. "Well, he's now fifteen minutes late...think we ought to go look for him?"

Ailey nodded her head and placed a bookmark in her book. Both of them headed towards the castle and found the same two guards standing in front of the drawbridge. "Excuse us, but can you tell us where to find the library?" Ailey asked sweetly.

"Head south, large building, can't miss it," the guard in red said roughly.

"Thank you very much," Ailey said as she turned around. The two of them headed in the direction that the guard had told them about and soon found the library. The opened the doors and walked further inside. "Excuse me, we're looking for a friend. He had black hair, around our age..." Ailey explained to the older librarian.

"Oh yes, Landon, is that correct? He's in the back. He's been back there for a while now asking for the strangest things," the librarian explained. They thanked her and walked towards the back of the library. They found Landon soon. It was clear that he had been here a long time. Several books were spread open in front of them and sheets of paper were off to the side with writing on both sides.

"Hey there Landon," Asher said.

Landon jumped slightly and sighed when he realized it was his friend. "Geez, you scared me, Asher. What are the two of you doing here?"

"You were running late so we thought we would come by and see how you were doing," Ailey explained.

Landon quickly looked at his watch and sighed. "Sorry about that, guys, but what I've seen here...None of it makes any sense."

Asher and Ailey both looked at each other oddly before sitting down across from Landon. Landon reached over and grabbed some papers. "All right, from what I've been able to gather, I'm going to tell you the most shocking news first. It looks like Destiny Islands has never even existed. I've looked through all of these books," Landon said as he patted a nearby stack of around six books, "and the only thing that I've found that even comes close to Destiny Islands is a myth that refers to the Vanishing Islandss."

Asher and Ailey both looked at each other again. "All right, what else?" Ailey asked.

Landon looked shocked. "Don't you get it? It's like our home was never even there to begin with!"

Asher raised his hand. "Quiet down for a moment, Landon. I'll explain why we're not surprised in a moment, but for now, just tell us what else you've found."

Landon sighed before he started to speak again. "Well, another odd thing is the dates. All of the most recent books only have until the year 1993, but the odd thing is that 1993 was a long, long time ago...as in, around one hundred and fifty years ago. Also, every history book I've looked at tells an entirely different story then the ones I'm used to. It says that after Sora's second adventure, the one where he beat Xemnas, Sora, Riku and Kairi all suddenly vanished. It says that after this happened, the Heartless and Nobody population began to spike, and the worlds started to disappear. Now, from the history we know, we know that the Heartless and Nobodies didn't start to reappear until around sixty years after Sora's adventure, when his grandson was chosen by the Keyblade."

Ailey looked over at Asher. "You were right..."

Landon looked at them confused. "All right, tell me what you figured out from walking around the town."

"Well, to be honest, we think we've actually traveled back in time..." Asher said. Landon started to open his mouth, but Asher raised his hand and quieted his friend. "There are several reasons for this. Number one, as Ailey mentioned, the town is much smaller then she remembered. Ailey also pointed out that the fashion isn't really what one would call modern. Now, I would be unwilling to come to this conclusion based on nothing more then town size and fashion, but what made me make up my mind was when I found a gummi shop. All of their gummis were what we would consider ancient. As in, a lot of the gummis are so old that they aren't even compatible with the modern parts in our ship. I remember seeing in one of my dad's magazine a list of all the old retro gummi parts that are worth a lot of money, and almost all of them are here and in large quantities. Most people wouldn't even dream of building a ship with such old technology, but the person assured me that those Gummis were top of the line. Add all of that to what you just said, and I think that we've more or less proven that we've somehow been transported back in time."

Landon sighed and leaned back into his chair. "I wasn't about to dismiss what you were going to say. In fact I was going to say that I've come to the same conclusion but what you've just said backs that up. Now the only thing we have to figure out is what to do from here."

"I've been thinking about that too. There are no gummi ship parts that allow for time travel; they aren't even considered in our age. Plus the fact that apparently Destiny Islands isn't around just raises all sorts of questions," Asher said.

"Well, I have an idea," Ailey said. The two boys looked at her. "Since it's apparent that we found a time hole in Destiny Islands, couldn't we just find where Destiny Islands would be and see if the time hole is still somehow there? I mean, if something in the past happened there, then the time hole might remain there in all future time periods, right? And even then, we can simply do a search for spots where gummi ships have disappeared and investigate it. We've seen the time hole once; it's pretty unique, and I think we would be hard-pressed to find something else that looks like it. If we do find it, then we could pass through it and hope for the best."

Landon and Asher looked at each other. "That's a really good idea Ailey, it really is. The big problem is that we don't know where the portal would take us. Would we be sent further into the past, back to our own time period, further into the future? All of those are very real possibilities," Landon explained.

"But I don't see any other way of doing this. Let's just say that these time portals can only send us further into the past. Well then, if we go to the past far enough, we may be able to discover what happened to Destiny Islands and fix it. We don't have any other plan, so I say we go for it, see where the time portal takes us. If it takes us further into the future, we'll think of something else, if it takes us further into the past, I say we keep following these things," Asher said.

Landon placed his elbows on the table and rested his head on top of his hands. He closed his eyes and thought for a long moment before nodding his head. "All right, that's what we'll do then. I've heard that the castle has a larger library in terms of the mythology of the Vanishing Islands. If we can find where that is, I'm sure we'll have found where Destiny Islands would be in this time period, and perhaps the time portal too."

Ailey and Asher both nodded their heads and all three of them stood up. "So...let's head to the castle library," Ailey said as the started to walk. They soon found themselves in front of the castle and still found the same two guards watching their posts. "Excuse me, can I ask you something?"

The guard in red sighed heavily. "What the hell is it now?"

"I was wondering if there was any chance we could see the castle library?"

The two guards looked at each other. "If I might ask, why do you want to see the castle's library?"

"We want to do research on the Vanishing Islands," Landon explained.

The guards gained a sudden alert expression and both of them pointed their spears at the teens. All three of them backed up. "Don't move anymore. All three of you, come with us," the blue guard said.

"If I might ask...why?" Asher asked innocently.

"Simple, the three of you are under arrest," the blue guard said as he stepped behind them and poked each of them with the end of his spear.

A/N ...wow...this has to be one of the most dialogue heavy chapters I've ever written.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N chapter 5 is here now, hope you all enjoy it.

The two guards led the group into the castle and down a flight of stairs. Soon they found themselves in a dungeon; however, most of the cells were empty. The blue guard opened up the cell door, and the red guard pushed them inside with his spear. "You'll be staying here for while."

"Wait a minute, you're locking us up just because we asked about something?" Ailey asked in shock.

The red guard nodded his head. "Yup, we've been asked to detain anyone suspicious, especially if they mention the Vanishing Islands," he explained before the two of them started to walk back upstairs.

Asher sighed deeply. "Well, you can tell these aren't very smart guards. I think I should be able to kick up a strong enough fire spell to melt these bars," he said as he linked his fingers together and stretched them out, causing a light popping noise to fill the dungeon.

"That won't work," a voice said. The three of them looked around and noticed that someone else was in the dungeon, although they couldn't make out what he looked like due to the low amount of light.

"What do you mean?" Asher asked.

"What I mean is that I've tried casting magic in here already. I think they have some sort of anti-magic field around this place," the voice explained. The owner of the voice was clearly a man by his tone.

Asher opened up his palms and closed his eyes. He sighed deeply and shook his head. "Looks like you're right," Asher said.

The voice laughed a bit. "I told you it wouldn't work. Now, although I can't see you, your voices sound young. Might I ask why you were thrown in here?"

"All we wanted to do was check out the castle library for information on something known as the Vanishing Islands," Landon explained.

The man in the other cell whistled. "Well then, it's no wonder you were thrown in here..."

"What are you talking about?" Ailey asked.

"What, do you really not know?" the man asked.

"Let's just say we're ignorant about the current situation here," Landon said.

"Well, it's a long story..." the man started to say.

Just then the door at the top of the stairs opened up, and the two guards that had thrown the trio in the prison came down. "Your story checks out; the King wishes to see you now," the red guard said as he opened the door.

"Well, sorry I couldn't get a chance to talk to you more, but I have to go upstairs and give my friend some support. I hope that your own mess gets straightened out," the man said as he walked out the dungeon.

The guards led the man upstairs and shut the door again. "And now I'm bored," Asher sighed.

"You get bored way too easily, Asher," Landon said.

"Hey, it's not my fault that I have a short attention span."

Landon shrugged his shoulders and the three of them entered silence again. They stayed like that for a few more minutes before Ailey sighed. "Why did they have to take my books too?"

"Oh great, don't tell me you have a short attention span too," Landon groaned.

"Well, it's not that short, I just tend to get bored easily. I wonder..." Ailey said as she opened her palm. A flash of light announced the arrival of Snow Flower. "Ah, perfect, now we can get out of here."

"Why didn't you do that to begin with?" Asher asked as Ailey pointed the Keyblade at the lock.

"Because I figured that since magic didn't work down here I wouldn't be able to summon my Keyblade...looks like I was wrong," she said as a beam of light traveled out of the end of her Keyblade and into the lock. A low clicking noise was heard and Asher pushed the door open.

"All right, now we're out of the dungeon and in even deeper trouble," Landon said.

"What are you talking about, Landon?" Asher asked.

"Asher...just think about it for a few minutes..."

Asher put his finger to his chin and started to tap his foot. Ailey groaned and smacked her forehead with her palm. "Of course, we just broke out of prison, we're not really going to be greeted with open arms, not to mention we don't know our way around the castle. If we get caught we'll probably be thrown back in here and might face execution."

"Very nice planning Ailey...It's all your fault if we die now," Asher said.

"Oh shut up, Asher," Ailey growled, "let's just think about this for a moment..."

Just after she said that the door at the top of the stairs opened up and the two guards were down there in no time. The red guard looked surprised that the teens were out of their cell. "How did you get out? We have an anti-magic field around this place."

"All her fault, she dragged us out with her, yup, if anyone is to blame, blame her...I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!!" Asher screamed.

Ailey growled and summoned her Keyblade and smacked Asher upside the head with it. "Just shut up Asher."

The two guards looked at the Keyblade in surprise. "You're...a Keybearer?" the blue guard asked with surprise apparent in his voice.

Ailey raised an eyebrow before responding. "Yes...I am..."

The two guards looked at each other and nodded. "All right, you come with us, the two of them stay down here."

"No, if I'm getting out of here then they're coming with me," Ailey stated.

"Listen to me, missy..." the red guard said.

"That's quite enough," a deep voice said. Both the guards suddenly straightened as a new set of footsteps filled the room. A new man walked in. He wore teal armor from head to toe; his helmet looked like a dragon's head and covered his eyes, and he carried a long spear on his shoulder. "If she wishes for her friends to follow her, then let them come, too."

"But sir..." the red guard started to say. The spear was suddenly in front of the guard's neck in a flash.

"I know the king much better than the two of you, he won't mind. Now, would you three please follow me?" the man asked. The three of them looked at each other and nodded. The man led the three of them up the stairs and into a large room. People in uniforms were walking in all directions and into a variety of rooms on both sides of the larger room. The man led the group to a large set of doors and opened them up without even knocking. In the new room were two thrones at the front. One of the thrones was empty, but the other one had a man in it. The man wore white armor and had silver hair. The armor had blue lines in it, and at his side hung a sword. In front of the man were two other people. One of them was a man with long black hair in a ponytail. He wore a black vest and a pair of brown slacks. The other person was a woman with long brown hair. She was in a red blouse with a red skirt that went to around her knees. Neither of the people seemed to have any sort of weaponry on them.

"What is it, Kain? In case you can't tell I'm in the middle of something important right now," the man on the throne said, slight annoyance in his voice.

"I realize that, but I think this is important. This girl here," Kain said as he pointed to Ailey, "is a Keybearer."

"Isn't that the group that Biggs and Wedge threw into the dungeon earlier?" the man asked. Kain nodded his head and the man waved for the group to come forward. "Summon your Keyblade, please."

"All right," Ailey said as she held out her hand, and Snow Flower appeared.

"Ah, so you are a Keybearer. In that case I am very sorry for your brief imprisonment. We've had to be more careful around people curious about the Vanishing Islands," the king explained.

"If I might ask, why is that?" Landon asked.

"We've been having some...trouble lately with people claiming to be from the Vanishing Islands. In fact, it is because of this group of people that we've searched for Keybearers."

"What kind of trouble?" Asher asked.

"A group of individuals have started to appear and attacking us using Heartless. We've never gotten a good look at what they look like, but each time they leave they claim that they'll revive the Vanishing Islands," Kain explained.

"And thus why when we asked about the Vanishing Islands you threw us in prison...makes sense now," Landon said.

The man on the throne nodded. "Exactly. I'm sorry we had to do that, but as I'm sure you can imagine, we can't really afford to take any chances."

"No, it's fine, I understand perfectly."

"Now then, for the two of you..." the man on the throne said as he turned back to the two people who were in the room before. "Since we now have a new Keybearer among us, would you mind if I were to explain my plan to you again so that they can hear it?"

"I have no problem with that, do you Gram?" the woman said as she turned to her side. The woman had a kind face, and it was clear that she smiled a lot. The front of her shirt was white in the middle. Her blue eyes seemed oddly empty.

The man smiled at the woman. The man also had a kind face and had a button down white shirt on underneath his black vest. He pushed his glasses up and magnified his green eyes when he replied, "No, I see no problem with that either Lauren. You can explain your plan again, King Cecil."

Cecil nodded his head. "Very well then. My plan is simple. I'm going to use the power of the Keyblade to stop this group that claims to be from the Vanishing Islands. If possible, next time they appear I would like you to try to capture one of them and get their location. After you have done so, we can go there and end their plan."

"Simple and straightforward...my kind of plan," Asher said as he pounded his fist into an open hand.

"Yeah, but the thing is that we have to capture one of them...that alone can prove a challenge. If you don't mind King...Cecil, is that correct?" Landon asked. Once Cecil nodded his head Landon continued, "I would like to take a look at all the legends you have regarding the Vanishing Islands. Perhaps I can gather some more information about their location which will eliminate the need to capture a member of this group."

"That's fine, but I've had several of my scholars looking at the texts already, I'm not sure what you'll see that they haven't."

Landon smiled slightly. "Trust me King Cecil. I have a rather...unique point of view that will be advantageous to me."

"All right, Kain, would you please escort this young man to the library? If you don't mind me asking, what are your names?"

"I'm Landon, the other guy is Asher and the Keybearer is Ailey," Landon explained as he walked away, being lead by Kain.

"Very well then. The rest of you are free to wander the castle as you wish, I only ask that you do not go to the third floor or higher. If you need it, I can help in providing weapons," Cecil said.

"If you don't mind King Cecil, I would like to check out the armory. Since I can't use a Keyblade having a weapon of some kind certainly can't hurt," Asher explained.

"Yes, there shouldn't be a problem with that. I'll have Biggs escort you to the armory. He was the guard in blue. The rest of you will follow Wedge who will take you to your rooms. If you all will excuse me, I have some other things to deal with at the moment," Cecil said as the two guards appeared behind the group.

Asher waved goodbye to Ailey as he followed the blue guard named Biggs. Biggs led the teen to a single door and opened it up. Asher's eyes lit up when he saw the array of weapons in front of him. He shook his head and turned to Biggs. "Do you have any fist weapons that I can use?"

Biggs led Asher to a side of the room where a long row of gauntlets was displayed in front of him. "Will any of these do?"

Asher looked at each one and looked at Biggs again. "Do you know if any of these enhance the power of magic at all?"

Biggs pointed at a set of gauntlets. "Any one of these that have a gem in them enhance magic. The color of the gem tells you the element. I'm guessing you can guess which one this enhances," he said as he pointed at the yellow gem.

"Gee, let me think about this for a moment...lightning?" Asher asked. Biggs glared at the teen, who raised his arms in front of him. "Whoa there, learn to take a joke. I get it, don't worry. In that case, I'll take these," he said as he took a pair of gauntlets with a red gem down. "All right, I'm ready to head back to my room now."

-|IN THE LIBRARY|-

"And here we are," Kain said as he opened up the large door. A very impressive display of books now stood in front of Landon. Landon's eyes widened as he looked at the large display. "And what you're looking for is right here," Kain explained as he walked Landon over to a specific part of the library. He pointed at three different shelves. "Feel free to take any of these to your room. There's a guard outside that knows the way; tell him when you're ready. If you'll excuse me, I need to go speak with King Cecil about something."

Landon nodded his head and looked at the three shelves. He took down a book and flipped through some of the pages. He placed it on a nearby table and took another book down and flipped through it. He shook his head and put the book back. He repeated this process for every book on the shelves. By the time he was done, he had around nine books in his arm. He knocked on the door and the guard came inside. "Yes, are you ready to go to your room."

"Yes I am, and I was wondering if you could give me some help with carrying these books," Landon said as he pointed to the stack.

The guard nodded his head. "Yeah, I'll help you out with these," he said as he picked up five of the books. "You really like reading don't you?"

Landon nodded his head. "Yeah, but I won't be the only one reading. I'm going to make him read these with me whether he wants to or not..." Landon said with a slightly evil grin on his face. The guard gave Landon a strange look, but paid the remark no mind. The guard led the boy to a flight of stairs and took him upstairs. In front of him was a hallway with red carpet in the middle. On the right hand side of the hallway was a series of doors while on the left side were windows that faced northward.

The guard stopped in front of one of the doorways. "This will be your room. The other boy that came with you should be on the right, while the girl will be the next one down on the right. Any questions?"

"No, thank you for your help though," Landon said as he grabbed the stack of books that the guard was carrying. The guard opened the door and let Landon in before closing it. The room that Landon in was quite large but didn't have much in it. Along the left side was a large bed that could have slept two people easily. Across from the bed was a large chest and in the middle of the room was a good sized table with four chairs around it. Along the same wall as the chest was another chair, only this one was sitting at a desk with a light on it. Landon nodded in approval as he set the books on the table in the middle of the room.

Landon walked out of his room and knocked on the room to his right. Asher appeared in the door frame just a couple seconds later. "Oh, hey there Landon, what's up?"

"Come on over to my room, you're going to help me out with the research," Landon said as he turned around and headed to the next door down.

Asher started to panic slightly. "Uh...you know...what bad luck you have. I actually have a lot of work to do right now..."

Landon turned around and glared at his friend. "That's right, you do have a lot of work to do...helping me find out what the heck is going on here. Now if you don't hurry up I'll put you in charge of four books instead of three and I'll only do two," he said as he knocked on Ailey's door.

Ailey appeared in her own door frame. "Oh, hello."

"Hey there, is there any chance you could help me out with some research?"

Ailey nodded her head. "Sure, no problem, is Asher going to be joining us?"

"Yes...as a matter of fact he is..." Landon said as he glared at Asher who was still standing in his door frame. Asher swallowed hard and sighed and exited his room. The three of them of them walked into Landon's room. Landon picked up the top three books and handed them to Asher. "Here's your load, and here's yours, Ailey. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get some paper. That way we can take notes too," he said as he stepped out of the room.

Asher sighed as he opened his book up. "I hate studying...I really, really hate it..." Ailey laughed lightly as she opened up her own book.

-|IN THE THRONE ROOM|-

Cecil sat on his throne and sighed loudly. "So...were they what you were looking for?" a woman asked. Cecil turned around and smiled. A woman around Cecil's own age stepped out. She had long, light brown hair and was in a white robe that covered her from head to toe.

"Yes they were Rosa...now the question is whether or not my plan will work. It's just like that boy Landon said earlier...There's a lot that can go wrong. Did you finally get Ceodore asleep?"

Rosa nodded her head. "Yes, he should be asleep for a while now."

The doors to the throne room opened up and Kain walked in. "Nothing new to report, but I have gotten word that Heartless activity in the outskirts has started to pick up."

Cecil nodded his head. "That's generally a good sign that they're about to attack again. Kain, go ahead and inform Rydia to be prepared and also start strengthening our defenses."

"Wouldn't it just be quicker for myself and Rydia to go to the outskirts and eliminate the Heartless now?"

Cecil shook his head. "Normally I would agree with you, but this time we can't afford to. If we destroy the Heartless, it may take longer for the group that is attacking us to show up. Plus, we now have two Keybearers on our side. Take no offense, Kain, but Keybearers are always more suited to fighting Heartless."

Kain smirked. "I wouldn't be insulted by that, Cecil, you should know that by now. I do see your point. I'll go ahead and meet with Rydia and inform her of what's about to happen. Has Edge gotten here yet?"

Cecil shrugged his shoulders. "If he is here he hasn't told me yet. Then again, both of us know how much he enjoys sneaking in the shadows."

Kain laughed as he exited the large room. Rosa looked at Cecil with worry in her eyes. "Come on now Cecil, come upstairs...you need some time as just Cecil, not King Cecil."

Cecil laughed. "I know I do Rosa...but unfortunately, at this time, I can't afford to be anything but King Cecil...the lives of too many people are on the line."

Rosa sighed and placed both her arms on Cecil's shoulders. "I know, and it's because of that that I worry for you."

A knock at the doors informed the king of a visitor. "Who is it?"

"It's me, Gram, the companion of the Keybearer Lauren."

Cecil wore a confusion expression on his face but replied quickly. "Yes, come on in Gram."

The two large doors opened up and Gram walked in. As he approached the thrones he raised his glasses up slightly. "I am very sorry to have disturbed the two of you but there are some things that I thought the two of you should be aware of before you send myself and Lauren out into the battlefield..."

-|LANDON'S ROOM AN HOUR AND A HALF LATER|-

Asher sighed as his eyes started to open and close in tiredness. "Geez...how much longer do we have to do this, Landon?"

"What are you talking about? Me and Ailey have already finished our books, we're waiting on you to finish your second book," Landon said, smirking.

Asher looked over at his friend and glared at him. "You know, there are sometimes that I really hate you..."

"And there are sometimes when I really hate you. Now hurry up and finish your book."

Ailey laughed at the two of them. "I think this is what some might call a love-hate relationship."

"No, this is what we call the 'he annoys me, I probably annoy him, yet we still somehow get along ninety percent of the time' relationship."

Ailey laughed a bit at the joke. Suddenly, a trumpet could be heard in the distance and Landon's door was swung open quickly. A guard stood in the doorway, slight panic on his face. "H...Heartless are attacking. K...King Cecil wants the three of you downstairs now."

The three of them all looked at each other and nodded and ran out the door. When they got to the bottom of the stairs, they saw that Gram and Lauren were already waiting. King Cecil stood in front of them with Kain at his side. "Good, now that you're here we can go ahead and start. We've had reports of a human among the Heartless. You all remember what to do, right?"

"I don't know, Asher doesn't have the best short-term memory..." Landon said.

"Yeah, and you won't either once I hit you upside the head with my gauntlet..." Asher grumbled.

"Just remember, we need him alive if at all possible," Cecil said. The five of them nodded and the large double doors opened. They stepped outside and prepared for battle.

A/N alright, next chapter will be the first big fight of this fic.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N alright, here's chapter 6 for all of you. Hope you all enjoy it.

The five of them stepped out into the courtyard of the castle and saw troops lying on the ground. Some of the troops were moving and moaning, while some of the troops weren't moving at all, a clear sign that they had been killed but their hearts hadn't been removed. Gram leaned over and whispered something into Lauren's ear, and she nodded her head very lightly. They continued walking until they saw a young woman standing in front of them. The woman was in green clothes from head to toe and had green hair to match. She looked over at the group now approaching her. "So you guys are the Keybearers, eh?"

"Yes, I am Lauren and this is Gram."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Rydia," Gram said as he bowed slightly.

"Oh, no need for the fancy titles, Gram," Rydia said, blushing ever so slightly. Lauren jabbed Gram in the ribs.

Gram looked at Lauren with a hurt expression on his face, but before he couple reply, Rydia spoke up. "And what about the three of you?"

"I'm Ailey. I'm the Keybearer of this group. The boy on the right is Asher and the boy on the left is Landon."

Rydia nodded her head. "We seem to have the Heartless under control, but the leader hasn't come forth yet."

"I'm guessing that whoever summons the Heartless makes at least one appearance," Landon said.

Rydia nodded her head. "Yes, generally from a high enough place that we can't make out his features. The only thing that we know for certain is that it is a man and it's been the same person for each of the attacks."

"Well then, we shouldn't waste any time," Lauren said as her and Gram exited out of the castle.

"I like her already..." Asher said as he pulled on his new gauntlets.

"I figured you would say something like that after she said that..." Landon said, sighing. Lightning started to flash around his hands; Ailey called Snow Flower forth, and a light blue glow surrounded her Keyblade. They all stepped off of the drawbridge, and the guards inside raised the drawbridge.

"Looks like they aren't expecting us to give up," Gram noted as he took his glasses off and wiped them on his shirt before putting them back on.

"No, it doesn't," Ailey said, slightly concerned.

"Oh come on, like we were going to retreat anyways," Asher said as he wiggled his fingers in his gauntlets.

"What's this? Is King Cecil getting so desperate that he's now sending a group of kids to stop me? Although, I will say that you don't look too bad," a man said out of nowhere; however, the voice seemed to be coming from up above the group and not from the ground. The five of them looked around quickly. "Hey there kiddies, up here," the voice said. All five of them looked on top of a building and saw a human figure sitting on top of a building. He raised his hand, and a large group of Shadow Heartless appeared in front of them. "Well, it's been nice knowing you kids. Too bad the one in red has to die, too. She's kind of cute..."

Lauren smiled up at the man. "Apparently the giant key that Ailey is holding isn't a good enough indicator of what we are."

"What, you think I'm afraid of a single teenage Keybearer?" the man asked.

Lauren shook her head. "You shouldn't be afraid of a single Keybearer, but you should be terrified of two," she said as she raised her hand above her head. A flash of light announced the arrival of her Keyblade. Her Keyblade was a mix of gold and silver lines all interweaving with one another. The shaft of the Keyblade was the same with the lines crossing across each other like DNA. At the end of the shaft was a much more complex interweaving of gold and silver, with two gold points and one longer silver point in the middle.

The man on top of the building laughed. "Oh, now this isn't as boring anymore...Now it's getting fun."

"Sorry, but your little Shadows won't be enough for Precious Metal," Lauren said.

The man on top of the building laughed. "Oh, what an 'original' name for a Keyblade."

"Hey, I thought it was a good name!" Gram shouted from the ground.

"Hey, can we stop taunting each other and start this already?" Asher asked impatiently.

"What, are you that eager to die? Unless my eyes deceive me, the only weapon you have on you are those gauntlets, and you should know that a simple pair of gauntlets are useless against Heartless."

Asher smirked at what the man had said. Suddenly his fists and feet caught on fire. "Yeah, bare fists and fists in iron might be ineffective, but fists surrounded by fire...that's an entirely different story."

The man on top of the building was quiet for just a minute before he spoke. "Enough of this...Heartless, destroy them."

All of the Shadows charged forward at the same time. "Guess it's time for me to work my magic now..." Gram said as he raised his hands in front of him. A gentle white glow surrounded his hands as he closed his eyes. "Haste, Shell, Protect," he said. An orange glow, followed by a blue glow and ending with a yellow glow surrounded each of the fighters.

"Thank you very much, Gram," Lauren said as she swung her Keyblade a few times. The speed that she swung it with stunned all three of the teens.

"Wow, you have got some serious speed, don't you?" Asher asked.

"No, that's what Gram allows me to do," Lauren explained.

Gram saw the confused look on Asher's face and spoke up. "You see, I'm not what you can call a fighter. I specialize in defensive magic, supporting others and things like that. Haste boosts your speed, Shell will protect you from magic attacks...you know, just in case, and Protect makes you more resistant to physical attacks. Now, these spells won't last forever, and they take a toll on my magic reserve, so hurry up and finish these guys off."

The three of them nodded their heads and prepared themselves. The Shadow Heartless charged forward, and the group charged forward to meet them. One of the Shadows jumped right at Asher's face, but Asher was much faster than the small Heartless due to the spells cast on his body, and he punched a hole clean through the Heartless, destroying it. "Oh yeah...I can get used to this," he said as he spun around and delivered a quick kick to a Heartless.

Landon was standing away from the group, launching lightning bolts into the mass of Heartless, with each lightning bolt destroying two or three Heartless each. Ailey was in the middle of the action a few feet away from Asher. She spun her Keyblade around her elegantly and efficiently, each attack destroying several Heartless. Lauren seemed to fight rather oddly. She relied mostly on stabs rather then the slashes that Ailey used, but each one of her stabs took out a Heartless with ease. After just a few minutes, the Heartless had all been killed, and Gram's spells were still in effect. "So...still think we're boring?" Ailey asked.

The man on top of the building started to laugh. "Who would have thought you would be this strong? Man, looks like just Shadows aren't enough for you. Let's see how you deal with Soldiers then," he said. A snapping noise could be heard from the top of the building, and several pools of darkness formed on the ground in front of them. A taller Heartless popped out of the portal. These Heartless had a purple body and wore a simple helmet on their head. They had claws for hands that seemed to be made out of metal. On the center of their chest was the Heartless symbol.

"First you summon the most basic Heartless, then you summon the second most basic. You must be pretty low on the food chain to get those crappy things," Landon said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Hey, I'll have you know that everyone in the Association can summon Shadows and Soldiers," the man shouted annoyed.

"Wait a minute...the Association?" Ailey asked.

The man on the building suddenly straighted up. "Uh...what I meant to say is..."

Asher started to laugh hard. "The Association? Are you kidding me? Did you not want to steal the name Organization, so you went with the next most obvious ripoff? My goodness, you guys are uncreative!"

"Soldiers, attack them already!" the man shouted. The Soldiers started to run towards the group.

They all got into battle positions, but Asher stood in front of them. "I want to try something out real quick..."

Landon groaned loudly. "You're not going to try _that_ again...are you...in the middle of _battle_ of all things!"

Asher turned around. "Oh come on, if it works it will be really cool."

"Yeah, and that's the problem—_if_' it works, you could end up getting yourself killed!"

Asher sighed and waved his hand. "Oh come on, have a bit of faith in one of your only friends."

"Yeah, one of my only friends, but not really by choice," Landon mumbled to himself.

"I heard that!" Asher shouted as the flames around his fists started to grow more violent. The flames around his feet died suddenly and went up around his hands. Then the flames around his left fist moved to his right fist, and those flames grew much larger. Asher pulled his right hand back and took a few deep breaths. "Let's see how much you like an inferno!" he shouted as he punched the air. The flames around his fist shot out in a massive fireball. The fireball shot forward in a straight line and destroyed the Heartless.

"Asher...you had better stop the fireball before it hits that building..." Ailey said concerned.

"Stop it? ...Oh, crap," Asher said as he slapped his head a few times yelling, "Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!"

"...He can't stop it, can he?" Ailey asked.

"At least he released it this time. I'll take care of this," Landon said sighing.

"How are you going to stop it with lightning?"

Landon smiled at Ailey. "Lightning is my primary element; that doesn't mean it's the only one I can use." Landon raised his hands to the air and then slammed them together in front of him. "Water!" he shouted as he pointed at the fireball. A sphere of water shot out of his hand and rocketed towards the much larger fireball.

"Uh...Landon, I don't think that's going to do much..." Ailey said concerned.

"Just trust me for a minute, Ailey," Landon said, smirking. The water orb shot into the fireball and exploded, causing a massive burst of water. The water didn't destroy the fireball, but reduced its size greatly and made it small enough that when it did hit the building, it caused nothing more than a scorch mark.

"Thanks, Landon," Asher said scratching the back of his head.

"No need to thank me, I'm used to saving your butt by now."

Asher was about to say something, but the man on the building spoke up. "Well, this certainly has been a fun time, but I'm afraid I have to be going. See you all later!"

"Oh no, you don't!" Ailey shouted as she pointed her Keyblade at the figure. A gentle blue light surrounded the Keyblade and the air grew colder. The man tried to move his legs but couldn't. One could tell that he was pulling with all of his strength to free his legs but to no avail. The rest of the group looked up and saw a small bit of light blue around his feet. Lauren rocketed into the air and was now standing in front of the man.

"Um...Hi there, think I could convince you to let me go for dinner?" the man asked, a shake clear in his voice.

Lauren raised her Keyblade into the air. "No thanks. I already have plans for tonight, but don't worry, you're a part of them," she said as she slammed Precious Metal into the man's head, knocking him out. "You can stop the spell now, Ailey."

Ailey nodded her head and lowered her Keyblade. The man's legs thawed, and Lauren grunted and managed to put the man on her shoulder. Asher leaned over to Landon. "Remind me never to get on her bad side..."

Landon looked confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Look at her, she just lifted a man. If I get on her bad side, _I_ might be the one being carried by her..."

Landon looked at Lauren and nodded his head. "Well then, in that case you may just want to stay quiet around her. If you do that you'll probably stay on her good side. If you do open your mouth, your chances of ending up like that man go way up."

Asher glared at Landon. "Are you implying something with that statement?"

Landon shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just saying that sometimes your mouth tends to go faster than your brain..." he said, mumbling something underneath his breath, "and you might end up like him."

"What did you mumble?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You paused midway through what you were saying and I saw your mouth moving. What did you say under your breath?"

"You know, you're crazy," Landon said as he shook his head and walked towards the now lowered drawbridge. Asher stood back and glared at Landon for a bit.

Ailey was standing on the bridge and when Landon passed in front of her she stopped him. "If you don't mind, can you tell me what you said under your breath?"

Landon smiled and nodded his head. "I said what little brain you have in there."

Ailey shook her head. "I swear, the two of you have one of the most interesting friendships I've ever seen."

"Interesting, annoying, weird: anyone of those would describe it perfectly well. But it never gets boring."

"Yeah, I guess..."

"If you don't mind me asking, what were your friends like at Radiant Garden when you lived there?"

Ailey shrugged her shoulders. "Pretty basic, I guess. We all had pretty much the same interests and such and in general got along really well. We never really had any arguments except for this one time when one of my friends was caught with another one's boyfriend and...I had to step in that time."

"So you were the peacekeeper of the group?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

The two of them went into the castle. Landon turned around and saw Asher walking slowly behind them. "What are you doing, Asher?"

Asher shook his head. "I'm just thinking about something."

"Oh, that explains why you're walking so slow, you never were good at multitasking."

"Oh, shut up for once Landon. I was thinking...if that man really does come from the Vanishing Islands, does that mean we're on the wrong track?"

Landon shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not sure, probably what this Association is doing is just using the name Vanishing Islands."

"I thought about that too, but we also have to figure in the chance that Vanishing Islands is an actual world and not Destiny Islands."

Landon smirked. "I'm going to be talking to this guy myself. From the books I've looked at and my own experience, I will probably be able to figure out whether or not you're right."

Asher nodded his head. "All right, I'll leave it to you then. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go to the ship real quick."

Landon looked at his friend in confusion. "What are you going to get from the ship?"

Asher smiled. "Just a few things that may come in handy. I'll be back before nightfall," he said before turning around and running off.

Landon turned back towards the castle and walked in. He noticed that King Cecil was standing in front of the prisoner, who was being held in place by Ailey's ice magic. "Please tell me who you work for and I promise that I will be gentle."

"I already told you, I work for the Association."

"But _what_ is the Association?" Kain asked.

The man smirked. "We're trying to restore the universe to the way it was meant to be, to the form of absolute darkness."

"So you're trying to destroy the universe in other words," Lauren said.

The man shook his head. "Not destroy, purify. By removing these pathetic worlds, the universe will finally be pure once again and the natural order shall return."

Landon looked at Ailey who wore a confused expression on her face. "But...if the worlds were created by Kingdom Hearts, wouldn't destroying them in turn destroy the universe that you claim to be purifying?"

The man laughed. "You don't understand at all, do you? Kingdom Hearts is darkness. By destroying the worlds and returning them to darkness, we're purifying the universe."

Landon stared at the man intently. "Do you honestly believe what your telling us?"

The man laughed loudly. "You don't really see what's going on in the universe do you? People claiming to fight for the light and against the darkness. What do people really fight for? The darkness doesn't discriminate like the light does, only the darkness is pure!"

"This guy sounds like he belongs in some sort of crazy religion," Ailey whispered into Landon's ear.

"No kidding. Let's see if Destiny Islands means anything to him." Landon said. He turned back to the man and asked, "do you know of a place called Destiny Islands?"

The man's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. "W...what are you talking about? I've never heard of a place like that!"

"He seemed to reply awfully quick," Ailey remarked.

"Yeah, I agree. Let's try a shot in the dark real quick. Have you ever heard of anybody named Sora, Riku or Kairi?"

The man's eyes widened and he opened his mouth. Something caused him to quickly shut his mouth. He shook his head violently before saying, "n...no I've never heard of them."

"What are you hoping to gain from this line of questioning, Landon?" Cecil asked.

"Regarding Destiny Islands and the Vanishing Islands, it's a long story. The people I asked about would also take a long time to explain. However, it seems that this isn't so much a small group but a religion. That would make getting information from this man much more difficult."

Kain nodded his head. "I see now. Is there any way to get more information on this 'religion'?"

Landon shook his head. "The only possible way to get more information would be to get somebody of higher authority. If you ask me this guy seems pretty low on the food chain"

Gram leaned over to Lauren. "This guy is good."

Lauren nodded her head. "I know someone who is just as good, though."

Gram smiled. "Oh, you flatter me, Lauren."

Lauren smiled. "So you don't think you can get any more information from this man?" Cecil asked.

Landon shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not sure right now. If I knew more about them, maybe. Perhaps I can learn some more if I look up some more books in the library. However, I can't guarantee anything"

"That is a fine idea, go ahead."

Landon nodded his head and walked away. "King Cecil, if you don't mind, I would like a few moments with the prisoner," Gram said suddenly.

Cecil looked at the man in confusion. "What do you want to do, Gram?"

Gram smiled a bit and raised his glasses up. "I just want to talk to him for a bit, is all."

Cecil nodded his head. "All right, but let's not do so here. Kain, take the prisoner to the dungeon, and you can follow him, Gram."

Gram nodded his head and the two men walked away. Lauren and Ailey stood in the large hallway with King Cecil. "So...what do we do now?" Ailey asked.

"Well, I must be going. My wife is concerned for my health and it will do herself and myself some good to take a small rest."

"So, is there anything around here for us to do?" Lauren asked.

Cecil placed his finger to his chin. "I've heard some reports of increased Heartless activity outside the city. Since the two of you are the only Keybearers of the group, would you please go and investigate?"

The two women nodded their heads and Cecil turned around. "What a girl's night out, huh?" Ailey asked as they walked out of the room.

Lauren laughed a bit. "Yeah, not quite like the ones I remember from when I was a teenager."

Ailey laughed too. "Yeah, I don't remember ever having one where our goal was to defeat Heartless; mostly to just hang out."

Lauren laughed a bit. "Same here, Ailey."

-|AT THE GUMMI SHIP|-

Asher stood in his room and looked around at it. The room was very simple, with a single door that led to a closet and a bed. Beside the bed was a nightstand, and on top of the nightstand was a picture. Asher walked over and picked up the picture. In the picture was Asher in the middle, with Meg sitting on his lap. Donovan stood over both of them, and his mom stood beside the older son. On the other side of Donovan was another man. The man looked like an older version of Asher and he had a gruff beard. The man had dimples that showed the he loved to smile and wore a brown worker's vest with pants that looked similar to the vest and a pair of goggles underneath his chin. Asher sighed as he picked up the picture and looked at it. "Don't worry guys, I'll figure out what happened...I'll make it all right again. I haven't forgotten the promise I made to Dad when I learned to fight. I hope you're looking down at me, Dad, and smiling..."

-|IN THE DUNGEON|-

Kain put the man into a cell and kept the door open. "Excuse me, that lady—Rydia, if I remember correctly—is a black mage, is she not?"

Kain looked confused but nodded his head. "Yes, she is...why?"

"Could you bring her down here for just a moment? It won't take very long, I promise."

Kain nodded his head and walked away. "What do you think you can do to me to make me talk, cure me?"

Gram pushed took his glasses off and wiped them off. "Oh no, don't worry, you'll see shortly. I've already gotten permission from Lauren to do this. Although you do bring up an interesting idea; white magic can be used to hurt as well as heal, you know. If applied correctly, a cure spell can reverse healing or any number of things. Perhaps casting Haste on you so much that your brain can't handle the increase in speed your body would be experiencing. But those measures are too...unpredictable. What I have in mind is much more certain. Tell me...are you familiar with the events of ten years ago...when a single magician had the whole universe trembling?"

The man nodded his head. "Of course I am. The Association was about ready to bring that man into our ranks before he suddenly vanished. Why?"

Gram smiled a bit. "Let's just say that I knew that man very, very well."

The man's eyes widened and he scrambled to the wall quickly. "No...no...you can't be..."

Kain came down with Rydia. "Here she is."

Gram nodded his head. "Thank you very much, Kain. Now Rydia this should be very simple..."

The prisoner scrambled to the bars. "Don't leave me alone with this madman! You can't do this to me!"

Kain looked at Gram. "So you revealed who you are to him..."

Gram shrugged his shoulders. "I had to give him a little bit of fear, didn't I?"

"So you are who I thought you were...Tell me, why am I helping someone I was trying to kill ten years ago?" Rydia asked.

"Because this isn't the same man, Rydia. Lauren changed him...trust me," Kain said.

Rydia sighed and Gram nodded. "Kain is telling you the truth. I owe my life to Lauren; I am not about to betray her now, not after what she's done for me...Nothing I could ever do can repay my debt to her." Rydia nodded her head, and the prisoner started to mumble random words silently as he backed up, slowly shaking his head.


	7. Chapter 7

Lauren and Ailey both stood outside of the city gates, their Keyblades in their hands. Lauren launched a quick stab and destroyed the last Shadow in front of them. "Well, this isn't too hard, is it?"

Ailey shook her head. "No, not really. At least we only have to deal with Shadows."

Lauren nodded her head. "Yeah, but I think with the two of us, we could take on just about anything they can throw at us."

Ailey laughed a bit. "Yeah, I think so too. Let's just hope, though, that they don't throw anything at us. I don't know about you, but I don't really feel like fighting anything too tough tonight."

Lauren shook her head. "Neither do I. I say we just clear out the rest of these small fries and then get back to the castle as soon as possible."

"I think that's a good idea. Hey, what's that?" Ailey asked as she pointed.

Lauren squinted her eyes but shook her head. "I...can't see anything."

"It looks like a human...Oh wait, I recognize him now, that's Asher. I wonder what he's doing out here..." Ailey said.

Asher seemed to notice that Ailey was there too, and he raised his arm up and waved his hand. Asher broke out into a slight jog and went over to the two ladies. "Hey there you two, what are you doing all the way out here?"

"We were asked by King Cecil to come out here and destroy some Heartless. What are you doing out here?"

"I had to pick up a few things from the gummi ship, is all," Asher said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Well, I think we're almost done. Want to tag along and see if you can help us out any?" Lauren asked.

Asher nodded his head and put on his gauntlets. "Yeah, I can help out a bit, I think," he said as his fists became enveloped in flames.

"Shouldn't you wait to do that until we see Heartless? I mean, Landon said that you weren't as good with magic as he is..." Ailey said concerned.

Asher waved his hand at her. "Don't worry, something like this barely uses any magic at all. What Landon does...That requires not only good magic skills, but also some serious concentration."

"What do you mean 'what Landon does,' cast spells?"

"No, no, no, he does something else with his magic. It's pretty hard what he does. I've tried it myself but...I kind of have a short attention span and thus suck at it..."

"So...are you going to tell Ailey what he does or just explain why it's so hard or why you suck at it?" Lauren asked.

"All in good time Lauren, all in good time," Asher said with a smile. "Come on ladies, let's go beat up some Heartless!" he said as he pumped his fist into the air.

-|IN THE DUNGEON WITH GRAM|-

Gram walked out of the cell as he cleaned his glasses. "I must say you can still be rather...persuasive," Kain noted when Gram passed in front of him.

Gram laughed a bit. "I guess I can be. Although, I believe that most of what he told me came out of fear and not from what I did to him. If he had spoken because of what I did to him, it would have been much worse. If you'll excuse me, Kain, I have to re-seal myself."

"Why do you seal up your powers if you are in control of yourself?" Kain asked.

"Because I fear that I may lose control one day and return to the darkness that I lived in. Not only do I not want that, but doing so would hurt Lauren, and that's something I couldn't live with," Gram explained as an intricate symbol appeared above his hand. He let out a deep breath then pushed the symbol into his chest. Gram closed his eyes and fell to his knees. After a moment Gram stood up and signaled to Kain that he was all right.

The two men walked up the steps and entered the throne room. "So...did you learn anything, Gram?" Cecil asked.

"I learned quite a few things, but it would be wise to wait for the others to return. I believe that we can set a course tomorrow," Gram explained.

"Would you mind if I sent Ailey and her group along with the two of you? I know this wasn't part of the original plan, but..."

Gram raised his hand. "It's not a problem, King Cecil. In fact,

I was going to suggest that they come along with us. The three of them are rather...unique if you ask me."

King Cecil nodded his head. "Very well then, when Ailey and Lauren return I shall summon everyone here so that we might hear what you've learned."

-|AN HOUR LATER|-

Everyone now stood in the throne room. Landon stood next to Ailey, who was to the right of Asher. Gram and Lauren stood to the left of Landon. "Since we are now all here together, I want to ask this first. Did you learn anything, Landon?" Cecil asked.

Landon shook his head. "No, anything regarding the Vanishing Islands is nothing more than myths and legends. Some reports have said that it's nothing more then a bend in space that seems to move like a planet, while others have claimed to see a rather desolate island."

Cecil nodded his head. "You said you had learned something, Gram. Would you please tell us?"

Gram nodded his head. "Apparently there is a ritual one must undergo in order to join the Association. On five different worlds are five altars. If one can find all five altars and solve the riddle on each one, the path to the Vanishing Islands will open. He has confirmed that the Vanishing Islands are indeed a group of islands, but he says that rather then seas of water, there are seas of darkness. In other words, it seems to be nothing more than a Heartless breeding ground."

Cecil seemed to think about that. "Then in that case, it seems my decision is even better now. Ailey, Landon, Asher, I would like the three of you to accompany Gram and Lauren to stop the Association. I had originally planned on just having you capture the man attacking us, but at this point it seems much wiser to send some more firepower."

"That's fine with me. Lauren and I were talking about it earlier and we were going to ask that of you anyways," Ailey said.

Cecil nodded his head. "Very well, then. The five of you shall leave in the morning. Please, get some rest."

The three teens turned around. Landon motioned for Ailey and Asher to follow him. They both did so, and Landon leaned over and talked softly. "I don't think we can trust Gram very much."

"How come?" Asher asked.

"He got too much information. Most people who are really religious about something don't talk that easily. I don't know what he did, but..."

"But it raises too many questions for you to be comfortable, right?" Ailey asked.

Landon nodded his head. "I'm not saying not to trust him, just...be careful. You do understand what the word 'careful' means, right, Asher?"

Asher sighed and lowered his head. "Yes, Landon, I do understand what it means. Does that surprise you at all?"

"Just a little bit," Landon replied with a grin.

"You know..." Asher started to say.

"Stop it, Asher, let's just go along with them and stop the Association," Ailey said.

"I wasn't going to say anything," Asher complained.

Ailey shook her head. "I know that you say that, but even though I've only known you a week, I know that's not true."

Asher sighed and lowered his head. "You know...that was a low blow."

"No, it's the truth and you know it," Ailey retorted.

"Geez, and to think that I thought you would be my ally...Now all three of my friends are against me."

"What can she say? You just have that sort of personality," Landon said with a grin.

"You know, you're no better than he is. Most of the time you're the one who starts it."

Landon looked at Ailey. "I make my remarks only when Asher does something stupid that warrants me making that remark. As such you could say that Asher is the reason that I make my remarks, and therefore everything is his fault."

Ailey shook her head. "Well, I don't really care whose fault it is...all I know is that it's getting a little annoying," she said before walking off.

"What's that old saying Landon? Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," Asher said.

"Yeah, that's it...Okay, Asher, out with it. What did you do to her?"

"I didn't do anything. Why do you always blame me when something goes wrong?"

"Because most of the time when something goes wrong, it's your fault somehow."

Asher grumbled under his breath. "I think I'm going to go upstairs now..."

Landon shook his head and walked in the direction of the staircase too. He looked around the corner and saw Lauren and Gram standing and talking. He stopped and stood away from the two of them and listened to them. "What I did down there..." he heard Gram say.

"I know that you hate doing that, Gram," Lauren said as she put an arm around his shoulders.

"That's what I'm talking about, Lauren...I didn't hate it; I fear I might have enjoyed it. The darkness may be gathering in my heart again," Gram said sadly.

"Don't say that, Gram. I have faith in you. I've watched you over the last ten years. I don't think you'll fall into the darkness again that easily."

"I hope and pray that you're right, Lauren, but we have to consider the very real possibility that I might fall to the darkness again."

"And if that time should come, I'll be right here for you. I'll be your lifeline," Lauren said, smiling.

"I know you will be, Lauren...I just pray that you don't have to be," Gram said.

Landon placed his index finger and thumb under his chin. "This is interesting...I think I need to have a talk with somebody about this," he said as he walked away from the staircase.

-|IN THE DARK REALM|-

"So, the man that we sent to Radiant Garden has been captured?" a deep voice asked. There were six figures all standing in complete darkness. The only thing somebody could make out was the outline of each person. The outline that had just spoken was tall and muscular.

"Yes, it would appear so. Oh well, it's not like that fool was truly a member of the Association. There's nothing he could tell them that would put our plans in jeopardy," a sophisticated voice said. The shadow associated with the voice was taller than the first one but didn't have the muscle.

"He could have told them the location of the first altar. That alone will give them some room to maneuver," a woman's voice said. She wasn't as tall as either of the two men but she had some muscle on her.

"But...I thought that we lived in the realm of darkness. Even if they figure out the puzzles on all five altars, they'll only find the gate leading here; there's no way they could survive here for any length of time...right?" a young male voice asked. The outline associated with the voice was naturally shorter than all the other shadows.

"He's right. People who have lived their whole life in the light can't survive here. Even if one of them did have a great deal of darkness in their heart, they would just join our side, right?" a young female voice asked.

"You two bring up good points. They still can't stop us, so why not let them continue on their foolish quest?" the second man said.

"Because one of those people poses a very serious threat to all of us," the woman explained.

"What do you mean?" the man with the deep voice asked.

"She means that someone we contacted ten years ago has returned," the sixth outline said. The voice was calm but had a hard edge of authority in it.

"By that someone, might I assume that you're referring to the Dark Priest?" the second man asked.

"Indeed I am," the sixth man said.

"Um, excuse me, but who are you talking about, exactly?" the young boy asked.

"It was before either of you joined us. Ten years ago, there was a magician that almost brought the universe down upon itself. We invited him into our ranks, but soon after we extended our hand, he disappeared. King Cecil and his group took credit for defeating him, but someone of that strength simply can't be beaten that easily," the deep voice explained.

"All right, but that wouldn't hinder us any, right? I mean, even if he is an awesome magician, he can't just walk into the realm of darkness," the young female said.

"But that's the problem. The main reason we wished for this man to join us is because he had the power to survive here. He was a rather...interesting mage, focusing more on defensive spells than offensive. But the offensive spells he possessed made him feared by the universe," the sixth man explained.

"Enough of this, we don't have the time right now to argue about what may or may not happen. I say that we let things run their course for now. Should they find some way of entering the dark realm, we can take care of them. After all, we'll have the home-field advantage," the woman explained.

"That is a good idea. We will not directly attack them unless they step foot here. However, I don't want any of you to start playing things defensively. Each of you, take one world and guard the altar with all of your might. The two of you," he said as he pointed at the younger members, "I want you to guard a world together."

"We won't disappoint you!" they both said as the same time before disappearing.

"I believe that I shall guard Beast's Castle," the man with the sophisticated voice said before he disappeared.

"I'll make sure that they don't even get the chance to leave the Land of Dragons," the deep-voiced man said.

"Very well then, Atlantica is mine to guard. Where would you like the twins to guard?" the woman asked.

"Tell them to guard Neverland," the sixth man said. "I shall handle the defense of Olympus Coliseum myself...I have what some might call an ally there."

"Very well, then," the woman said as she bowed and disappeared herself.

-|RADIANT GARDEN|-

Landon stood outside the throne room, an expression of curiosity on his face. "What was that all about? All they told me is that I can trust him and that I shouldn't worry about it. I need to take some time and do some research, but first I need to get some sleep."

Landon walked up the steps and saw Ailey standing in the hallway. "Hey there, Landon," she said when he got close enough.

"Ailey? What are you doing up?" Landon asked in surprise.

"Let me guess, you talked to King Cecil about what you heard Gram and Lauren talking about."

"So you heard it, too?"

Ailey nodded her head. "Yeah, I found it rather...interesting. Did you learn anything?"

Landon shook his head. "All they told me is that we can trust him with our lives. I don't know about you, but that conversation that we heard doesn't really help me in trusting Gram anymore."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. It's clear that something is going on between the two of them, and now it's clear that King Cecil and the others are hiding that information from us, too. I'm not sure what to do right now; think we should wake Asher up and ask him?"

"No. He didn't hear them talking, and Asher likes to believe in the goodness of people. He would probably just say something about how we misheard them or something like that. I think we might need to take a more...direct approach if needed."

"And by that, I'm guessing you mean asking them yourself what they were talking about, right?"

Landon nodded. "No other way I can think of if we want an honest answer."

"I don't really like being that direct, but I don't see any other way, either."

"I don't like being that direct either, Ailey, but if we can't trust the people we're traveling with, there may be bigger problems down the line. Now, I think you should go to bed. We'll probably be leaving early in the morning."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," Ailey said as she yawned a bit. "I'll see you in the morning, Landon."

"Yeah, good night."

-|IN THE MORNING|-

"It's too freaking early," Asher said as he yawned and stretched out a little.

"What are you talking about? The sun is rising. This is the perfect time for us to leave," Gram said.

"I would prefer to leave when the sun is slightly past the midway point, if you don't mind."

"If we left then, then when we reached the Land of Dragons it would be close to dark, and we wouldn't have much time to search for the altar," Lauren explained.

"No, we can get there rather quickly with my gummi ship."

"Asher, even with the fastest gummi ship parts, it would take us several hours to reach the Land of Dragons," Gram said looking at the teen in confusion.

"Trust me, my gummi ship can outrun anything in the universe."

"Have you even gotten approval from King Cecil to use our ship yet?" Landon asked as he stepped down the staircase. Landon now wore a sword on his back over his left shoulder.

"No, not yet, but come on, why wouldn't he approve of me using my own ship?"

"Because King Cecil is smart and doesn't want you crashing us into a rock."

"If I remember correctly, it wasn't _me_ who ran into the asteroid, it was you," Asher shot back.

Landon blushed lightly. "Yeah...well, it was my first time driving a gummi ship."

"That wasn't an excuse not to see a giant rock that was three times the size of our ship!"

Landon was about to say something when Ailey appeared behind him. "Did you really drive into an asteroid?"

"J...just a little bit..."

"Suddenly I feel much safer with Asher driving...and I never thought I would say that," Ailey said, shaking her head.

Gram and Lauren laughed lightly but stopped when they saw King Cecil standing in the doorway. "Are the five of you ready to go?"

"Yeah, we're ready. I just have a quick question," Asher said as he raised his hand.

"Yes, what is it?"

"I was wondering if you would allow us to use my own personal gummi ship."

"Why? I already have the fastest ship in my fleet set up for the five of you," King Cecil explained perplexed.

"Well, let's just say that I think my ship is a little bit faster than your ship," Asher said grinning.

King Cecil shrugged his shoulder and shook his head. "Very well then, you may use your own ship. I wanted to wish the five of you luck; the fate of the universe now rests on your shoulders."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure Asher stays on track," Landon said.

"And I'll make sure that the two of them don't kill each other," Ailey said, grinning at her two friends.

"I'll make sure that they don't get boo-boos," Gram said, grinning at the glares that Landon and Asher sent him.

"Gram, don't antagonize them, please," Lauren said, shaking her head.

"Oh come on now, Lauren, where's the fun in not antagonizing them a little bit?"

Lauren sighed. "Are you sure you're an adult, Gram?"

Gram put his fingers to his chin. "Let me think about that for a moment...I was born in..."

"All right...enough...Let's just get on with our mission already," Lauren said tiredly.

She mumbled something under her breath which caught Gram's ear. "What did you just say, Lauren?"

"I said, I'm not sure if I can handle taking care of more children."

Ailey laughed a bit. "Don't worry, Lauren, I'll help you out."

"Thank you very much, Ailey. Glad I have someone with at least a little bit of maturity with me."

"If you are all done now..." King Cecil said impatiently.

All of them straightened up. "We'll be back as soon as we can," Landon said, and all five of them turned around and walked out the large doors.

King Cecil sighed. "You look really rough, pal," a voice said from nowhere. Suddenly, a man appeared right behind Cecil. The man had short white hair, a white cape and a white cloth covering his mouth. At his sides was various instruments such as knifes and shuriken.

"It's about time you got here, Edge," Cecil said, giving the man a small smile.

"I got caught up in a few things, sorry about that. So what's this important mission you want me to do?"

"Did you see that group that just left here?"

"Yeah, I did. I don't know about trusting the fate of the universe to a group like that."

"That's why I'm not sending them alone..."

Edge's eyes widened and his shoulders slumped a little bit. "I already know where this is going. I'll get in my gummi ship, follow them but not too close; that way they don't know I'm following them...right?"

Cecil nodded his head. "You sound somewhat disappointed."

"You know, just because I am a ninja doesn't mean I like sneaking around in the shadows. Give me some time in the spotlight, would ya?"

Cecil laughed. "I will try next time I get the chance."

"I'll hold you to that. Well, guess I had better get going. If what that kid said is true, I'll have a hard time keeping up with them."

"Yes...There is something odd about that trio. Keep a good eye on them."

"You got it," Edge said before he vanished in a puff of smoke.


End file.
